Find a way to my heart
by orvokki
Summary: Another girl get's sucked into the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho. Nothing new there, but this celestial descendant might be the one to save the Universe...Except there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the damn thing! ChichiriOC
1. Default Chapter

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

**Find a way to my heart**

1. Beyond the pages

Sen woke up with a start.

"Whatta..?" Blue eyes stared at the wall in front of her desk. The computer screen shed eerie green light to the dark room. Her neighbor was listening to hard rock and the music came through the wall, making her sigh in annoyance; some people…

"What time is it?"

It wasn't the first time she fell asleep while doing her homework. The books lay scattered on the desk, with papers and pens and half eaten pizza. "Owww." She moaned as her back protested the sudden movements. Joints popped as she reached out to her alarm clock, 4 am. "Great." She muttered, while unconsciously reaching out for her book bag.

"Hmmm.." Sen felt a tingling on her hand. It must be the blood starting to flow again, she thought. Her fingers found a leather-bound book cover.

"Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho? I don't remember taking this?" She wondered out loud when she read the title of the book. "Aww man, it's in Chinese, I can't read this… Shit…" She frowned and flipped through the pages. "Hoo, there's English in here.. Chichiri.. What's that suppose to mean? Oh, it's a name." Her head snapped up when she realized she was talking to herself. How stupid can you get, she thought, not out loud.

Sen flipped the through the pages and placed it on her nightstand. I'm so tired, and I still have few hours left before I should really wake up, she thought. Peter's going to kill me if I miss classes again… She smiled as she thought of her overprotective friend. "Oh well…" Sen collapsed on to her bed. Except there was no bed. "WhattaHeeeeeeeeell?" She shrieked. And then there was nothing.

---

Her eyes snapped open when she felt something tugging her hair. It was dark around her. Not to mention very wet. Then she noticed she couldn't breathe. She squinted her eyes to see better. There was a blurry image of rocks and sand. I'm under water, she thought. Shit! I'm under water! I can't swim! Just when she was starting really to panic something pulled her up. She coughed hard and grasped the thing that was pulling her up. And the next thing that her brains registered was that she was lying on a riverbank and somebody was shaking her to wake up.

"Ok, ok, I'm awake." Sen groaned, swatting the hands that were holding her away as she sat up.

"Daijobu desu ka, no da?" Her rescuer said as she turned to look at him.

"Wha..?" She tilted her head to the side. He looked kind of funny, with his cerulean hair and cat like smile. He was wearing a straw hat of some sort and his white shirt was dripping water all over the sand. Did he dive after me? Sen thought, and what did he just say? Better yet, in what language did he say it?

"Daijobu desu ka, no da?" He said again, only he was speaking much slower pace. He reached out and started to pat her arms and then down to her sides. Sen was just about to smack him down for good when she realized he wasn't feeling her up, but checking for broken bones.

"Sorry, I don't understand." She shrugged and then squirmed when he hit a ticklish spot. "Have I seen you before? You seem sorta familiar?" She asked. He just tilted his head to the side and sat down next to her.

"I guess you can't understand me either.. Oh well.." She sighed and then thought of something. "My name is Sen." She said and offered her hand to him. He looked at the hand for a while. She sighed and pointed a finger to herself. "Sen."

"Ah.. Watashi wa Chichiri, no da." He said and shook her hand. He had surprisingly soft hands, with long fingers. Ahhh, what am I thinking, need to focus girl, focus!

"Chichiri? That's a weird name.." 'She commented as she stood up and took few steps back. "I don't.. Where am I? What is this place?" She was wet and miserable and cold, her pink pajamas clung to her skin. Sen let out a small, hysterical, laughter. "Ok, officially panicking now," the man obviously can't understand a word of English. And I don't recognize the river or anything else around me. Panicpanicpanic.

"Ano…" He said.

"Shut up, I'm trying to think." She said. "Oh that was rude of me.. Sorry." Sen cringed, biting down to her thumbnail. Ok, just calm down girl, he's probably speaking in Japanese, probably. You've heard it before in anime and few very funky movies, Ichi the Killer was nice.. Focus girl, focus. Sen cursed inside her mind. This place looks like it's from a history book, nothing like my hometown anyway. I hope there's a phone somewhere near, people will be worried when they don't find me in the morning. Heh, who am I kidding, I won't be missed until Monday if I don't show up to the University. Am I dreaming, whatta hell is going on here?

"Ano.."

"What!" She yelled. Chichiri pointed at her feet. She was standing on sharp rocks, with no shoes. It was like standing on glass shards.

"Ow ow..Shit.." She could feel the sharp edges cut into her flesh took few steps ahead so that she was standing on the sand again.

---

What a funny girl, he thought as he patted the sand next to him. He couldn't understand a word she was saying. She wobbled next to him and sank down, whining miserably. Poor thing.

"You should be more careful no da." He smiled and rummaged around his kasa for bandages. I know there here somewhere, he thought. She asked him something, but he still couldn't understand a word of it. She has a nice voice though. He just smiled in a comforting way and took a hold of her right foot.

Damn, he frowned; the cuts were pretty deep, with ragged edges. But they were not bleeding so much. That was good.

"Ow..ow.. Be careful, it hurts like hell.." Sen hissed between clenched teeth.

Chichiri looked up, surprised that she actually spoke something he could understand. He smiled in relief, it would be so much easier to get her to town now. She smiled back to him, but he could see her wince every time he moved her foot.

"This is not so bad. You shouldn't walk for a while thought, no da." He said softly as he wrapped the bandage up.

"Are you sure.. It hurts like h…whaaat? You can speak English!" She stared at him, blue eyes wide as saucers.

English?

"No, I'm pretty sure I can't, no da." He answered and looked at her left foot. She just stared at him as he wrapped the other foot in bandages. It was getting rather annoying. Not like he wasn't used to people staring at him, but she did it in a way that really got on to his nerves. She reminds me of Tasuki, he thought as he got up and dusted his pants.

"Well, I think you will be ok. Just don't stand up in a while or the wounds will bleed through, no da." He said as he walked to the riverbank to wash his hands and to get his fishing pole. As he walked past her she grasped a hold the end of his staff. He curiously looked down at her.

"Where are you going?" Sen asked.

"I.."

"Where you going to just leave me here?"¨

"I…"

"With my feet like this. I can't even walk."

"I.."

"What kinda asshole are you anyway?"

"Will you let me speak, no da?" He finally asked when she was catching her breath. She just nodded.

"I was going to say that if you will wait for a while I will get us some sort of transportation no da." He sighed.

"But if you would rather sit here on the riverbank in your wet clothes, cold and miserable…." He left the sentence linger in the air. Sen blushed deep red and mumbled sorry. Chichiri smiled again, obviously somewhat amused by her embarrassment.

"But then again I don't think it would be very good for you to move with those cuts, no da. So maybe we should go and visit Tasuki-kun at mount Reikaku."

"Err.. That's sounds like a long walk uphill. You just said I should not walk.. Or are you going to carry me there?" Oh yeah, sarcasm, that'll work.

"Something like that, no da." He answered and the next thing she knew she was being sucked inside a blue cape. She screamed as she wrapped her arms around him. In seconds she was weightless. And everything around her became blurred.

---

They popped out from the blue cape. Wicked, she thought as she clung to Chichiri for support. He helped her to sit down and went to collect the blue cape. She looked up to his smiling face and felt a grin tug her lips.

"What was that?" She asked breathlessly. "Did we fly?" She was grinning like an idiot.

"Teleportation." He answered. "But I miscalculated a bit so we still need to walk for about half a mile, no da. I'll carry you no da."

"Oh goodie, just what I need, a piggyback ride." Sen laughed for the first time since she met him. "An absurd idea. I'm 23 years old, I don't do piggyback rides anymore." She scoffed at him and tried to stand up. Chichiri frowned and tilted his head to the side as he watched her progress. She took one, wobbly step and sat back down.

"Ok, you can give me a piggyback ride." She grimaced. He just sighed as he rubbed his temples.

"I swear, you are a female Tasuki, no da."

He helped her up and they were off. Settling into a steady pace was easy, finding out that she was much heavier than he though was not. Not that he had thought the she was skinny in the first place. The wet pajamas left little if nothing to imagination. Curvy, would have been the word, if he had had to use one. She was holding his kasa and staff, and that made her loose her balance in every second step he took. This was going to be one long walk uphill.

---

He smells nice, Sen thought. She was holding his funny looking walking stick and hat as he carried her uphill. From time to time he stopped and shifted her weight, it took some balancing from her since her hands were occupied, but he didn't let her fall once. She finally got tired of all the balancing so she just placed the funny looking hat to her head and wrapped her free hand around his neck.

After about five minutes she saw something that resembled a fortress.

"Wow, Chichiri, look at that!" She pointed a finger to the fortress. He turned his head slightly to look at what she was pointing.

"That's were we are going, no da." He answered without stopping. She could hear the strain on his voice. No wonder there, I'm not so thin I used to be, she mentally grimaced. How Embarrassing, with a capital E.

"Are you ok?" Sen asked with a hint of worry in my voice, well yeah, if he collapses, then I'm all alone in this weird place, she reasoned to herself. It's not that I care or anything… "Do you need to take a break?"

"Yes, but since it's such a short walk I think we can make it without breaks." He smiled at her and shifted her weight again.

"Ok." Sen nodded and rested her chin to his shoulder and enjoyed the warmth of the sun. Funny, how things seem to always work out for me. Well, almost always anyway. Her eyes fluttered close.

---

The sun was shining when she opened her eyes, but it was on the wrong side of the sky. Oh shit, she blushed; I fell asleep on him, literally.

---

TBC

---

AN: Re-writing my old stuff.

Check out my homepage for story related art!


	2. two

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

2. In the Shadow of the Miko

Sen sat on a soft bed in a small room. She could see a ray of light coming behind a closed door to her right. There was also a window in the far end of the room. Now where am I? She pondered as she kicked the covers away and stood up from the bed.

"And what am I wearing?" Sen looked down to see her pajamas gone and replaced with a clean white shirt.

"Oh well..." She took few wobbly steps and reached the windowsill. Resting her weight to her hands she leaned forward to open the window. Fresh air flowed past her to the room. The sun was setting and it colored everything in dying amber light.

"Pretty.." Sen exhaled. The view was captivating enough, for her not to notice the door opening.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..

Chichiri opened the door as he heard faint whisper from the room. He had been sitting just next to the door waiting for the girl to wake up. Poking his head in to take a quick look he noticed that the bed was empty. He quirked an eyebrow and looked around the room. She was at the window, looking out.

"Good morning, sort of, no da." He greeted her cheerfully. This let in to two things. First, she almost jumped out of her skin. Two, she lost her balance and fell on down to the floor. Chichiri froze to the spot. Oops.. Was the only thing that came to his mind, but luckily he also took notice how utterly improper it would have been for him to say it out loud.

"Owww..." Was Sens answer from the floor. She sat up and rubbed her back not noticing how this innocent act also lifted the shirt she was wearing up her thighs. He quickly looked away, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. What's with these foreign girls? Are they all so.. so..sloppy. Sen absently pulled the shirt back down and stared at him with very accusing eyes.

"I.. I'm so sorry, no da." Chichiri managed to smile. "I didn't mean to scare you like that, no da."

"Right." Was the answer he got. Sen slowly stood up and wobbled back to the bed. She sat down and sighed. "Apology accepted. I shouldn't have jumped like that, I usually don't scare that easily." She shrugged." I dunno what got over me, maybe I'm just too hungry." The girl winked.

"Hungry, no da?" Chichiri smirked, maybe she's not all that Tasuki like after all.

"Well yeah. I haven't eaten anything in decades. Or drank for that matter." Sen laughed and patted her stomach. " I might get thin if this continues, plus a lil' wine never did any bad to anyone either. And after what I have been through, I think I DESERVE few drinks.. On you of course.."

"Right. I'm not sure if Tasuki-kun is willing to share his sake, but I promise you food, no da. Just wait here and I will get something, no da." Chichiri was quick to exit. Sen watched him go without much curiosity. Her mind was occupied by the fact that her pajamas had gone somewhere without her.

---

"Oi Chiri! What are ya doing to MY sake?" The flame haired bandit grabbed the bottles from the monk and placed them back to the shelf. He turned to look at his friend. "Are ya okay? Yer not a drinker as far as I know."

"Well, I.. See, the girl asked for some and I thought.." Chichiri explained and reached out for the bottles. Tasukis hand stopped him. The bandit leaned against the shelf, situating himself between the monk and the sake. He eyed the monk suspiciously for a second, before his mind registered what the monk had said.

"Wait, wait. The girl? What girl?" He asked blankly.

"Daa..." Chichiri sighed. "The girl I found yesterday, the one I brought here, no da. The one with the cuts on her feet. Brown hair, blue eyes, pink pajamas. Earth to Tasuki, you gave me one of your shirts so I could get her pajama dried out, no da."

"That's why ya needed one of my shirts? For a girl?" The bandit snorted and shook his fiery mane, it sounded like something his kindhearted friend would do. His hand reached out and grabbed a bottle from the shelf. He looked at the clear liquid inside for a while and then handed it to the monk. " Fine, take one. But I want my shirt back." Chichiri smiled at his friend. "...gives my shirt to a girl.. what a great friend I have..." He heard the bandit mutter as he exited the food storage.

---

This time Chichiri knocked before he opened the door. After hearing a small 'yeah' he opened the door. Awkwardly balancing the tray of food in one hand and the holding the bottle of sake in the other he made his way to the bed. Sen stood up and took the tray, placing it to the bed. She could feel her mouth water for the sight of the food. When did she ate last, she couldn't remember.

Chichiri placed the bottle to the floor next to the bed and watched her eat, or more like inhale, the food. Within few minutes she was already licking her fingers clean.

"Daa.. You remind me of the Suzaku no miko.." Chichiri whispered, mostly to himself, a picture of Miaka inhaling all her food entered his mind. He smiled affectionately to the memory. How long had it been now? A year? He never said it out loud, but he missed the scandalous young woman very much. She was one of the few people who knew about his dark past, and didn't care. She saw past the scars.

"Who?" Sen asked as she waved her hand in front of his face to get his attention. He snapped back and quickly leaned back so that her hand was away from his face. "Sorry. You zoned out for a while." She leaned back to the cushions and sighed. "It's a girl right?"

"Yes." He smiled, oblivious to the double meaning of the question.

"Alrighty then, where's that sake. I'm itching for a drink." Sen faked a smile and reached for the bottle. He's too cute to be true anyway, she thought as she poured herself a drink, but he should smile less. It's unnatural for a person to smile all the time. She drank up and poured herself another. Soon she had lost count of the drinks. She never noticed Chichiri leaving.

---

If there was one thing that Sen could do well, it was getting drunk. She was exceptionally good at it when tired and stressed. The world spun few times, before she locked her eyes to the now empty sake bottle. She sighed unhappily and dropped the bottle to the floor.

"Needs shome more.." She muttered and slowly stood up. "Whoa.. Double visshion." Sen rubbed her eyes for a while. When she finally opened them again, the world looked some what normal. "Oh gooodie.."

Getting to the door proved to be very difficult. Someone had left a chair lying in the middle of the room and she doubled over it, managing barely to keep her balance. She leaned to the wall for support and wobbled a while, and then hopped on one foot to the door. She stuck her tongue out and flipped the bird to the chair before she exited the room.

---

After an hour of hopping and wobbling around, Sen finally sat down to the floor of a small corridor. She rubbed her now bleeding feet and whined miserably as the alcohol was leaving her system. She felt a small headache coming. Sen leaned her back to the wall and sighed. Getting lost was one thing, but doing it while drunk, in a place you've never seen and with your feet bleeding like this, was another.

"This is so not fair.." She mumbled.

"What's not fair?" Came a question above her.

---

TBC

AN: All right, a cliffie!


	3. three

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

3. A new friend

_"This is so not fair.." She mumbled._

_"What's not fair?" Came a question above her._

"Aaiihh!" Sen yelled in surprise. The dark haired man in front of her jumped to the sound. His hands came up in surrendering manner.

"Oi girl, calm down. I'm not going to hurt ya.." He tried to speak softly as possible, and this seemed to work as she calmed down somewhat, but she still eyes him suspiciously. The man smirked at this. He wasn't the nicest looking fella in the world. And he knew it too.

"Who are you?" She asked, staring at the long vertical scar on his cheek.

"The name's Koji." He grinned as reached out a helping hand. "And ye're the mysterious girl the monk brought here, right?"

"Yeah. I'm Sen. I'm lost." She answered taking the offered hand. He pulled her up with one fluid motion. Sen swayed as she tried to even the weight on her injured feet.

"Oh fer crying out loud…" Koji muttered as he took a hold of her waist. "What didja mean lost?"

"It means I dunno where I am.." She leaned to him so that most of her weight was on him. Somehow, it didn't feel awkward at all.

"I know what it means.."

---

"This is really not necessary Koji." Sen sighed sleepily. "I'm perfectly capable of getting back to my room."

"And here I was, thinking ya were injured and lost." He chuckled. "Look girl.."

"Sen."

"Sen, it's not very wise of ya to walk alone in here. There 're bandits in this fortress, ya know?"

"I know. But all I've met so far have been very well behaving and nice." She smiled as they turned yet another corner. He looked down at her with surprise.

"How many ya've met then?"

"One." She smiled inwardly as a faint pink rose to his cheeks. But it was true; she'd only met two people in the last two days. Both had been very nice, (not to mention hot as Hell) and both had helped her. So why not say it out loud? She thought; it's not very often that people get to hear nice things about themselves anyway.

"Thanks..."

"You're welcome."

"I think this is yer door."

"Okay, good night Koji. And thanks for saving my worthless ass." She smiled as she fought to open the door. He sighed and pulled to heavy wooden door open.

"It's not worthless." Silly, weak girl. Just like the other foreign girl Genro once knew, the miko. But still, different. Somehow more mature. She's definitely older than the miko was, he thought.

"Oh?"

Wide blue eyes looked up at him and he just couldn't resist it. He leaned down and whispered to her ear, "Yeah, I would say it's worth about..."

"Hey!" She protested, pushing him away. "I'm not for sale."

---

When Sen woke up the next morning, she found a pile of clean clothes on the end of the bed. There was also a wash basin and some sort of soap on the table near the door. She got up and as her feet came in contact with the stone floor she yelped in surprise for the jolt of pain she was expecting never came.

"What the Hell...?" She undid the bandages and stared at her foot. It was perfectly and completely healed, with thin pink scars going crisscross on the skin. "No way... Wicked!"

She took few tentative steps and when it felt ok, she quickly removed the bandages from the other foot too. After she spent half an hour on just testing every possible ways on stepping and found that none hurt she washed up and started to go through the clothes. Ten minutes later she was wearing a long blue dress that was tied to the waist with a white sarong. She wore the white shirt under it. It smells nice, she smiled.

"I need a mirror..." There was s knock on the door. "Yeah?"

"'Re you decent?" Asked a familiar voice behind the door.

"Yes Koji, I'm all dressed up."

"Great, Breakfast's done. The monk asked if I could come and get ya since ya can't really walk with the cuts and all.." He poked his head into the room only to find Sen standing in the middle of the room. "..But it would seem that my services 're not needed."

"I know, isn't it weird?"

"Most definitely... Damn."

"What?" She quickly looked at the dress, nope, everything was fine there.

"Oh I just realized I won't be carrying ya to the kitchen." He chuckled.

"Oh.. Why you..." Sen blushed. "..Perv.."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

First thing she saw as they entered the kitchens was a flaming red hair in the sea of dark. Koji walked straight to the table were the redhead was sitting and brutally made room to himself by picking up one of the bandits and tossing him away. The dark haired man then turned to wink Sen so that she would come sit next to him.

She smiled awkwardly as she made her way to the table. She could feel the eyes on her and it made her bow her head. This is so not nice! And where is that monk? Did he ditch me here with these.. these.. Cavemen? Her thoughts came to end when she finally sat next to the dark haired bandit and lifted her eyes up, looking at the redhead. So, who was this guy? She pondered, averting her eyes for long enough to pile food to her plate.

It took her a while to realize he was looking straight at her. Hazel eyes locked on to her blue ones and pinned her to the spot. What? I have something on my face? She panicked.

"Keh, I would like to have my shirt back." He finally said, although it came out more like a growl. Sen could even see pointy canines when his lips parted.

"I.. Huh?" Came her clever answer.

"My shirt, the white one. I would like to have it back, today."

"It's your shirt? But I thought it was Chichiris..." He might look good, but he acts like a.. like a wolf, she thought.

"Well, it aint his, girl."

"Sen." Both Sen and Koji corrected. Sen started to eat.

"Whatever." The redhead finally said and turned his attention to his food.

"Don't mind old Genro here. "Koji patted his friends back. "He just hates girls, it's nothing personal."

"Well, at least he smells nice."

If she would have looked up she would have seen a very red faced redhead, but lucky for her, all her attention was on her food.

---

Sen was sitting on her windowsill, looking down to the yard where men were saddling up their horses. She sighed unhappily; it had been three days since she had last seen Chichiri. She had been wondering what she might have done to upset the monk, but she couldn't remember much of the night she got drunk. Maybe he's just gone do some spiritual shit, her mind suggested. "Oh man. I'm pathetic.." She groaned.

On the other hand, Koji had been keeping her busy. He had tried to teach her how to ride a horse, but she just wasn't natural with the big animals. It's not like she feared them, they just didn't mix. After the first sweaty afternoon, the bandit had said it was not really necessary for her to learn how to ride, but she should know how to fight.

She wasn't good at that either. She had never even seen sword or held a dagger, but he was determined she would be able to learn the basics if given time. A lot of time. Sen had disagreed and said she was a girl, and girls are not supposed to fight. No one had listened.

Her muscles hurt every time she shifted, but she was feeling restless. Where was Chichiri? Had he really abandoned her for good? It made Sen nearly panic to think that way. She had tried asking Koji if he knew where Chichiri had gone, but the bandit had said that only Genro knew where the monk went when he was away.

Genro, Tasuki, the fiery haired bandit leader. Sen sighed. He was a joy to the eye, but pain to the ears. She looked at the white shirt that was neatly folded on the bed. She should have returned it, but she couldn't bear facing the bandit leader now. She didn't want to hear him say that the monk had gone for good.

And what if he really had gone for good?

---

The monk in question was actually sitting on top off a very comfortable cushion in Mt. Daikyokuzan. Next to him was sitting a young green haired girl, looking as serious as he was. They were both waiting for the oracle to come back.

"You know Nyan Nyan... You don't have to keep me company, no da."

"I know. But I like keeping you company." She smiled happily.

He smiled back and patted her hair.

"I have seen it.." Came a voice above the pair. Tai Itsukun, the oracle, floated down. "A celestial descendant has come, but she came before she was ready. She's not meant to be here yet."

"Celestial?" Chichiri asked, shocked. He had thought she was a new miko.

"Yes, she is of a celestial bloodline. A descendant of the celestial warriors. She should have the mark visible by this age." The oracle replied, shooing the green haired girl away as she floated closer to the doorway.

"Sen.. is.. I could be her ancestor?" Chichiri asked. He stood up and followed the oracle.

"Not likely Chichiri. You are a monk, after all."

"Then who..? Hotohori? She's a descendant of the Emperor?"

"Think Chichiri. It's not likely she's a royal blood." The oracle smiled inwardly, they were so blind sometimes, these children of hers.

"...You can't mean Tasuki?"

The oracle said nothing. She slowly turned to look at the monk. Chichiri had stopped to the doorway. He looked shocked. He had taken of his mask and the one maroon eye was staring at the oracle with disbelief.

"She's a.. Tasuki's her ancestor." He smiled suddenly. "It does make sense, no da, they do act a like. I wonder how I didn't see it before, no da."

---

TBC

---

AN: Re-writing my old stuff…

What do ya think of the newest plot-twist? Pretty obvious when you think of it, right?


	4. four

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

4. Not a born fighter

The jingling of the metal hoops was the thing that made Sen look up while she was practicing with Koji. She was getting better by day with the butterfly knifes Koji had given her, but still, she didn't really feel at home using the weapons. Her lack of attention resulted in painful landing as Koji pushed her down.

"Owww.." Sen moaned and rubbed her side. "No fair, I wasn't looking!"

"Yeah well, tell that to the next guy who's gonna kill ya.." Koji snickered as he held out a hand to help her up. She accepted the help grudgingly. He was right of course, but it didn't make it any less painful.

"I think these are not my weapons though." She said for the umpteenth time and sighed as she looked at the knifes. Beautiful craftsmanship, but they were too heavy for her.

"Yer too weak for a sword." He answered.

"But.."

"No buts, no sword."

"Fine! I never said I wanted one in the first place..."

"You know he is right, no da. You are too weak for a sword." Said a cheerful voice.

"Huh?" Sen turned to look to her right, and as she expected, saw Chichiri smiling down at her.

The knifes clattered to the ground as she reached her hand and slapped him hard on the face. He dodged the hit but still found himself lying on the ground with a very furious girl standing on top of him, holding him down with her foot.

"I see you're all healed up, no da." The cheerful tone didn't change, he still smiled that cat like smile of his. For a second Sen was going to just forgive him, but then she remembered how lonely she had been for the last few days. Lonely and scared.

"Where the Hell have you been?" She snarled, baring her teeth like a wolf.

"I think I'll just go now..." Koji backed away form the couple, but they didn't notice him.

………………………………...

They stared at each other. The girl gave up first and removed her foot form the mans chest. He sat up, but didn't stand up. She sighed and gathered her knifes from the ground, gently wiping the dust away form the steel. Even if she didn't like using them, they were still very valuable items.

"So, where were you?" She finally asked.

"I went to see an old friend, no da." He answered.

"I see." She nearly smiled, it didn't reach her eyes. "Did you ever stop to wonder if it would be a good idea to tell people when you leave them so they won't worry about you?"

"I.." He was surprised. "I told Tasuki-kun where I was going, no da. You did not ask him?"

Sen silently cursed, casting her eyes down. I should have asked, I should have! Stupid! She fidgeted her knives for a while before turning to face him.

"I didn't want to hear that you had abandoned me here, I guess.. Not that I care or anything..." She could hear the blood rushing to her face. This was so not like her, she wasn't used to being embarrassed and it made her angry. I'm an I-D-I-O-T! Her mind screamed. But it didn't help the blushing. What am I going to do?

To her utter dismay, she heard him chuckle softly.

"What? What's so funny?"

"You are, no da. You remind me of someone I haven't seen in a long time, no da. Not since Nuriko died."

"Nuriko?" She asked, cocking her head to the side. "Who's Nuriko?" Curiosity, cat, killed! Her mind screamed, but it was ignored, as usual.

………………………………...

"I heard ya talking to the girl." Tasuki started when Chichiri opened his door. The bandit was leaning on to the window. He didn't look at the monk. "Ya talked about Nuriko." Somehow it sounded like an accusation.

"I talk about him with other people, yes. I talk about all of them, no da." The monk said, taking of his mask. Somehow he knew this was going to be one long afternoon.

"Yeah well, ya never talk to me.." the redhead sulked.

"That's because you never..."

"It doesn't matter." The redhead stopped him. "So what did the old hag say? Is the girl from Miaka's world?"

Chichiri sighed, It wasn't the first time Tasuki had done this. The redhead had a very unhealthy way to pile things up inside and then explode at the worst time possible. And yes, there was no love between the oracle and the bandit. That's the main reason why Chichiri had gone alone. It was time and energy consuming trying to keep Tasuki out of trouble. And it usually didn't work anyway.

"Yes, she is, but she's not a miko."

"Huh? Then how did she get here? I thought one needs to have celestial blood or some shit to travel between the worlds.."

"Wow, you actually have been listening to me?"

"Hey! I'm not a complete idiot, ya know. I have my good days." The bandit smirked. "look, the girl can stay. I know Koji likes to have her around, but I don't wanna see her alone in the corridors. This is, after all, a bandit fortress."

"What do you mean alone in the corridors?"

"She didn't tell ya?"

"Tell me what, no da?"

………………………………...

"What the Hell were you thinking? Alone, at night in a bandit fortress, injured and DRUNK? Do you have any idea what could have happened if Koji hadn't found you? Do you?"

"I..."

"You could have been killed! Have you no instinct of self preservation!"

"But.."

"You could have been raped!"

"Did you notice you dropped the no da.. ?"

"Well no freaking da!" Chichiri slumped against the wall. He was spent. He leaned his head to his hands. How could the girl be so incautious? What if something had really happened, what would have he done? He was the one who left her here in the first place. Suzaku, I'm so tired..

"I'm sorry." Sen stood next to her bed, not really knowing what to do. Her head told her he was right and she had acted like an idiot, but her heart screamed bloody murder, it's his fault. She couldn't decide which to listen so she just stood her ground.

"Look." He whispered after a while of silence. "I'm not angry at you, no da. I just worry, no da." He looked up to see her surprised look. Then she smiled. A small smile, but still, it made him feel better. She wasn't mad at him for yelling.

"I know." She kneeled in front of him. "I know."

………………………………...

He woke up hours later. He was still sitting on the floor, but someone had covered him with a blanket. Sen was no where to be seen. Something about the sun made him turn his head to the window. And then he noticed her, sitting on the windowsill. Her eyes were closed and it looked like she was sleeping too.

"Not the best place to fall asleep, no da." He sighed as he got up. "Silly girl."

"I'm not asleep." Came the reply.

"Daaa..." He stopped dead on his track. "I thought you were, no da."

"What? Asleep, or silly?"

"Both, no da."

Sen opened her eyes, the evening sun was making it hard to see what color they were. But he knew they were blue. Had he not known he would have said they were hazel. Blazing hazel. He would know that color anywhere. It was just like Tasuki's.

"What? I have something on my face?" She asked.

"Daa.. No." He smiled. "I think we need to discuss about your situation. I know I should have done this earlier, but somehow you managed to dodge all my efforts, no da."

"My situation?"

"Yes, no da. Like, do you know where you are, no da? Or why you are here, no da?"

"Not in Kansas anymore that's for sure..." She muttered. "Look, I know I'm not in my world anymore. I think it has something to do with this book I had, the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho." She shrugged her shoulders.

"You figured that out all by yourself, no da?" He was genuinely surprised. Sen pulled her feet away, making him roon to sit down next to her.

"Hey! I'm not a complete idiot, you know. I have my good days." She smirked.

"Daa.. I never had any doubts, no da." He chuckled.

"So, Koji has been teaching you how to fight with butterfly knifes, no da?"

"Yeah. He tried to teach me how to ride a horse too, but I don't mix with animals very well. Animals and small kids that is, they find me scary I guess." She made a face. "But I dunno. The knives just don't feel right."

"Too heavy, no da?" He asked, pondering were his kasa and staff were. He saw them in the corner of the room and went to retrieve them.

"I guess. My wrists are quit fragile, and I am a girl, mind you. Sharp objects scare me." She tried to suppress the giggle that surfaced as he reached in to his kasa. "How the Hell do you do that?"

"Magic, no da." He answered smiling, as he pulled out a bamboo fan. "This should do nicely, no da."

"Huh?"

………………………………...

Sen held the bamboo fan in front of her face. Why had Chichiri given her this thing. Sure, it was pretty and all, but he had said that she should learn how to use it.

"To use a bamboo fan?" What was that all about? I didn't make sense to her. "It's a bloody fan, not a weapon.."

There was a knock on her door.

"Yeah?" She called, flipping the fan shut.

"Excuse me. Who is it? It's the master chef, Koji, who came to show the lady his finest works. Well then you're very welcome. Please come in. Thank you."

"Whatte hell?" She stared as Koji kicked the door open. He had a tray full of food on the other hand and a promising looking bottle on the other. "..Was that all about?"

"Never mind." The bandit smirked. "I come baring gifts."

"So I see." She smiled and pushed the fan to her sarong. A motion that didn't go unnoticed by the bandit. He set the tray down on to the dressing table and reached out for the fan. She slapped his hand away. "No."

"Geez, I was just curious" He huffed. "So, the monk did give ya a new weapon."

"Weapon?" She was gathering food to her plate.

"The fan. I guess ya need to get Genro to help ya from now on then." He opened the bottle, and as she had guessed, the sweet smell of alcohol lingered to the room.

"This is a weapon?" She pulled the fan out of her sarong. "But.. But it's made out of wood."

"So?"

"It's fragile." She stated matter of factly, while holding out a cup for the sake.

"So are ya." He smiled and poured her a full cup. "Look, the fan is actually quite impressive weapon if ya know how to use it."

"Oh." She was all ready finishing her food. "Do you know how to use it then?"

"Me?"

"No, I mean the other bandit in the room. Of course you!"

"Well, sure I know how to use one." He leaned his back to the wall. "But I'm far better with 'sharp things'." He grinned at the face she made.

"You heard that?" She groaned.

"Oh yeah.."

………………………………...

TBC

Yeaaap…

Ok, first, Chichiri is not saying Sen's like Nuriko. He says she reminds him of someone he hasn't seen in a long time. Not since Nuriko died. He's referring to Tasuki the way he used to be before his friends started to die.

Second, she's a girl. She can't fight. She's scared of sharp objects, get over it.

Third, Thank You for all who have reviewed!


	5. five

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

5. My name

The bamboo fan flicked open and shut, open and shut, open and then it fell from the slender hand. Sen's head lolled to the side as she fell asleep to the windowsill. Her drinking buddy laid sprawled on the floor, he was out cold too. The night had been most productive although neither of the two never left the room. Sen had told him about her world and Koji had explained her some of the basics of the Universe of Four Gods. He had told her about the beast God Suzaku and the great war between Konan and Kutou. But mostly they had just drank. A lot.

_--Dreamscape--_

_It was snowing. Big white flakes made their way slowly towards the couple laying on the grass. The snowflakes slowly covered the grass but somehow managed to avoid the couple._

"_I feel so warm." She said to him. "but at the same time I know it will be cold soon."_

"_It will be cold true, but why not enjoy the warm while you can?" He smiled softly._

"_But what if I will freeze later?" She asked cuddling to him._

"_There will always be someone just for you, Sarah Elisabeth." He whispered._

_--_

Sen opened her eyes. She was shocked beyond words. The drunken state she had been earlier was swiped away as she left the room in a hurry.

"My name." She whispered into the cool night air. "Nobody knows my name."

………………………………………….

She ran through the corridors of the bandit fortress until she found the door she was looking for. It looked just like the other doors, but somehow she knew that he was beyond that door. After a moment of hesitation, she pulled her fist back and slammed it into the door. Her knuckles cracked but she ignored the pain. There was something far more important at the hand right now.

"Genro! Wake up!" She yelled at the closed door and hit it again. There was no answer so she kicked the door, noticing a little bit too late that she still didn't have shoes. "Oww ow.." She leaned to the door with her eyes closed. "Shit.Shit.Shit." She muttered.

Suddenly the door opened, a hand shot out and pulled the surprised girl inside the room. It took her eyes few seconds to get used to the dim light inside the room. And when they did she found herself sitting on the floor with a very furious looking redhead looking down at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Ya ask me what? Whatte hell are ya doing?" He asked back, his voice was strained with irritation.

"What do you mean wha… waa.. never mind." She shook her head to get her thoughts clear. "I had a dream." She finally said, averting her eyes.

"…What?" He asked, dumbfound.

"Now you're doing it…" she suppressed a giggle. For a second there, he looked completely lost.

"…" He sat down to his bed and leaned back." You woke me up in the middle of the goddam night just to tell me ya had a dream? Newsflash girl, I have them every damn night." He groaned.

"No no, not that kind of dream idiot. I mean I had a dream about you and me."

"Oh…" He blinked one eye open.

"No wait! That didn't come out right!" She blushed, waiving her hands into the air. "Idiot. I meant I had a totally platonic dream about you, but you said something in the dream that made me go… err.. Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Yer bleeding on my floor." He sighed as he got up and helped her stand up. "So what did I say?"

"Huh?" Was her ever clever answer. He pushed her down to a chair next to his bed.

"Ya said I said something in yer dream that made you go something. So what did I say." He asked while he was rummaging through his stuff to find some kind of bandage to her hand. With a victory sign he pulled out a clean strip of woven and took a hold of her hand.

"You.. oww.. You said my name." She exclaimed, earning a side glance from him.

"Ok… Ya do understand that that made ya officially insane in my books." He snorted. "Not that I ever though ya were very sane.." He tapped the blood off the girls knuckles. She has such tiny hands, he thought, no wonder she can't manage the heavy blades Koji gave her.

"No you don't understand. Nobody knows my name."

"Suuu-re we do, it's Sen."

"Those are my initials. I haven't told anyone my name since my family died."

"Died?"

She went silent. She didn't mean to say it out loud but somehow it slipped. Again she averted her eyes. They shared a comfortable silence as he wrapped the bandage to her hand. He wasn't going to make her talk, even though his natural curiosity was going overdrive. He felt weird about hearing her family had died though. Somehow it felt like he himself had just lost someone. It didn't make sense.

………………………………………….

"So. What's yer name then?" He finally asked as he finished bandaging her hand.

"Sarah Elisabeth." She answered, feeling sleepy. "I should get back now. I'm sorry I woke you up."

"That makes two of us..." He yawned as he closed the door behind them.

"You know Genro, you're really a nice guy." Sen smiled as she entwined her hand with his. "You just cover it up in idiotism."

"Keh, call me Tasuki. Only bandits call me Genro." He answered, but didn't pull his hand away. Something about this girl made him feel funny inside his head. Like trying to remember something that hadn't happened yet. And that was not normal as far as he knew.

"How many names do you have?" She asked and yawned again.

"Few. Why?"

"What's your real name then?"

"You mean my given name?" Now look what you got yerself into, idiot. He inwardly cursed, but still found himself answering. "It's Shun'u, Shun'u Kou."

"Really? It's nothing like your nicknames." She stopped in front of her door.

"I know." He pushed it open and peaked inside. "I see ya had some company." He snickered as he saw Koji laying on the floor, fast asleep. The dark haired bandit looked surprisingly content.

"Huh? Wai! Koji-kun!" Sen eeped blushing deep red. "It's not what you think!"

"Whatever ya say, oneesan." Tasuki smirked. He pushed her inside and closed the door.

………………………………………….

It seemed like a dream when she woke up the next morning. But when she got down to breakfast she realized it had not been one. Tasuki was looking straight at her and smiling widely. Sen groaned, she would so going to hear about last night for the rest of her natural life…

"Morning sunshine!" The redhead greeted her as she sat down to the table. "Had a nice night?"

"Yes, but no thanks to you or anyone else.." She muttered, wondering briefly were the monk was. Had he left again? "Tasuki, where is Chichiri? Did he go to see some friend again?" She asked while piling food to her plate.

"Naah. He's fishing in the pond few miles north from here." The bandit leader answered. Already finishing his breakfast. "I can show ya the way when yer done. But now I'm gonna go get the sleeping beauty up." He snickered as he got up.

"Don't be too cruel to him!" Sen yelled after him as the redhead dashed away in incredible speed.

"Of course I won't!" He yelled back as he vanished behind the corner.

"Wow, he's fast." She whispered, mostly to herself.

………………………………………….

"There is no way in Hell I'm getting on that beast!" Sen screeched as she saw the brown mare Tasuki was bringing out from the stable. It was already saddled up already to go, but Sen was hiding behind laughing Koji. The dark haired bandit found it hilarious that Sen acted exactly the same as Tasuki did when he was just learning how to ride a horse.

"It's just a horse.." Tasuki tried.

"It huge!" She yelled.

"Well, what do ya expect. It's a bloody horse!" Tasukis voice matched hers in volume.

"Don't yell at me!" She pointed a finger to his face.

"You're yelling at me!" He in turn pointed a finger to her face. They both growled and went to retrieve their fans. Lucky for them Koji was there to put a stop to the fight before it even started.

"Will you two stop it. You're acting like a married couple." The dark haired bandit laughed.

"We are NOT!" The fighting couple exclaimed, horrified.

"Fine! I'll ride the damn horse." Sen huffed and turned to look at the animal. It looked calm. But looks can be deceiving, she thought. Sneaky things these horses. Then she noticed a small problem. "Umm.. How do I get on it?"

………………………………………….

They rode in silence. The morning mist was evaporating as it made room for the sunlight. Sen was deep in thought and Tasuki was just enjoying the silence for a change.

"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" She finally asked.

"I dunno." He shrugged his shoulders. "I think I'm having some weird family ties thing going on."

"Family ties?"

"Yeah, I grew up with five older sisters."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and I don't wanna talk about it."

"I didn't say anything."

"But ya were thinking about it."

"Oh and what are you, the great mind reader all of a sudden?"

"Why do you two have to fight all the time, no da?" Came a tired sigh behind the couple.

………………………………………….

TBC

Riiight... I have nothing to say right now...


	6. Chapter 6

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

6. The war on Mt. Reikaku

The next week was a cold one. The trees in the near by forests were starting to change their colour from green to red and yellow. Sen and Koji still practised, but now he was teaching her how to use the bamboo fan, or tessen as he called it. Surprisingly, she was quite good at this tessenjitsu, beating him three times out of five. But more surprising was that she never truly hurt herself again. It seemed like the punches and kicks she received were not taking the desired effect. Her bruises vanished overnight and so did the pain they caused.

She, however, didn't seem to notice this.

Tasuki grumbled about devious women in his life when he himself lost a sparring fight with Sen. She laughed and patted his unruly mane. They shared a sake bottle later. Chichiri found them in the near by town, and had to subdue them both in order to get them back to the fortress. After that, Tasuki became friendlier to her, he even started calling her oneesan.

The monk had left again when the cold winds had started to blow. He had said he would be back before the snow. As Sen watched him go, she wanted nothing more than to run after him, but she didn't. Instead she turned and walked back to her room.

She plopped herself to the bed as she thought about the things she had learned so far.

1. I'm not in my universe anymore. And it's ok. I'm calm.

2. No one seems to know what I'm doing here or how I got here. They say it has something to do with celestial blood, what ever that might be.

3. It's been months. I've probably been kicked out of the university by now. Plus my friends must think I'm dead.

4. I've become an older sister. I think it's an honorific here. Pretty cool.

5. I think I can speak Japanese… Which is weird.

6. Chichiri is driving me insane. No...Chishiri is insane! How can someone smile all the time? It.Is.Not.Normal.

She sighed.

……………………………..

Once again, Koji felt the edge of the girl's tessen cutting into his back with a swift motion of her hand. He landed on his knees and was up in no time. He just barely managed to get his sword between them, making her tessen stop just inches from his face.

"Damn girl, yer getting better by day." He muttered as he tried to punch her, but she dodged. "But I've still got some tricks left." He grinned as he threw his sword to the ground. The steel went through silk and soil, pinning the girl from her sash to the ground. She yelped as gravity took hold of her. Sen found herself looking at Koji's boots.

"Nice one." She commented as he helped her stand up. She wiped the sweat and dust from her face. "I'm not sure I want to be the one to tell Li Mei that one of her silk sashes is ruined... again."

"True, what a horrid job to do." He agreed.

"I swear she's going to stop giving me clothes if I keep ruining them."

"Not entirely unpleasant idea." He smirked.

"…" Sen guessed his mind was going into directions she really didn't want it to go and choose silence as her answer.

"It would probably make you win all the fights though… It's hard to..." He never finished the sentence as a messenger burst through the gates.

"Genro! I need to talk with Genro!" The man yelled.

……………………………..

She could hear the words Mt. Kaou and bandits and war going through the crowd gathering to the yard. It made her stomach turn. She knew about the other group of bandits in the area, Koji had told her about them on one drunken night. And even though he seemed not to remember it she remembered most of it.

Koji had gone with Tasuki, leaving the girl alone with the bandits. But she knew she was safe for they all knew that she was the leader's oneesan. With a respect they made way for her as she fidgeted her hands and paced back and worth on the yard.

"Oneesan is making me nervous." One of the younger bandits said as she passed him for the umpteenth time.

"What?" She asked, looking back at the youth. "Oh. Sorry Fai." She said sheepishly.

"It's ok." he replied.

"I'm just a bit.. nervous."

"No kidding."

"No."

It took several minutes for the bandit leader to emerge from the closed door. And when he did he looked somehow older. Sen sent a worried glance at Koji, but the dark haired man shook his head mouthing 'later'.

"Open war." Was all the red head said.

……………………………..

"What did he mean by that Koji-kun?" Sen asked as she was lead away from the crowd by the bandit. He moved so fast that Sen had to run to keep up.

"It means we hafta figure a way to git ya out of here." He answered with a low voice, not looking at her, but the iron grip on her arm loosened a bit.

"What?" She dug her heels to the ground, making them stop.

"Open war means just what it sounds like. An open war." He sighed tiredly. "I know Genro isn't gonna risk yer life or well being, so we need to figure how to git yer ass out of here. Or you'll be a distraction." He explained.

"I can fight." Sen said in small voice, but let him drag her inside the fortress.

"No, ya can't." He argued.

"I beat you three times out of five!" She exclaimed, they had stopped in front her room.

"That doesn't mean ya can fight in a real fight." He opened her door.

"But.."

"Fighting and killing are two different things Sen." He pushed her inside the darkening room. "Pack up oneesan. Please."

"Where am I going?" Sen asked as she started to do as he asked. She turned to retrieve her clothes and the backbag Chichiri had given her.

He looked at her back thoughtfully before answering. "To the only safe haven Genro knows."

"And that would be?" She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"The Imperial Palace."

……………………………..

Chichiri sighed. He was standing near the palace inner gates, waiting for an audience with the Empress, Houki. He had slipped his mask off, knowing very well what the kind hearted widow thought of the piece of magical paper. Cool wind pushed his cerulean hair away from his face, a single snowflake hit his nose.

"It seems I have lied to someone, again." He whispered to the wind, closing his remaining eye.

"And who might that be, dear friend?" Came a calm question behind him.

"Your Highness." Chichiri exclaimed.

"You have lied to me?" She was amused.

"What? No!" Yeah, total lost of composure, that'll work, he inwardly grimaced.

"Then do tell me who this unlucky person is for I am curious." She smiled. "Walk with me my dear monk."

They walked in silence until they reached the gardens. She sat down to a stone bench while he lowered himself to a rock near the pond. The same rock he had sat so many times and pretended to fish.

"I remember when you came here to fish, but there never was any fish in the pond." She smiled at the memory.

"Yes, it helped me think. No da." he answered.

"So, who is she?"

"Who? Sen?"

"So her name is Sen." She smiled as a faint pink rouse to his cheeks. "Is she cute?" She smirked.

"I guess, no da."

"Well, I presume you didn't come all this way to discuss about girl trouble?"

"There's no trouble…" He started before realizing she was teasing him. He looked at her smiling face and smirked. "You always had a way of making the Suzaku seven feel embarrassed. No da."

"Me? How so?" She laughed. "How have I missed you. Where is the Bandit lord? Is he well?"

"Tasuki's fine, your higness." The monk smiled. "But I have come to ask your help."

"Name it and it's yours." She said.

"You haven't heard what I came to ask, no da."

"After what you did for Konan…" She smiled sadly. "For my husband and my son, and me. Name it."

"I need to use the library, No da."

"Is that all?"

"And if I could get my old room back… And Hotohoris old office?"

……………………………..

Koji lowered Sen to the ground near the gates of the Imperial Palace. He nodded towards the gate and gave her the letter Tasuki had written. She looked back at him with wide, questioning eyes.

"Give this to the Empress, she'll understand." He explained.

"Empress?" Sen squeaked.

"Yes. "

"O-okay." He turned the horse. "Wait, Koji-kun!"

"What is it oneesan?" His voice was soft.

"Will I see you again?"

"...Of course ya will, silly girl." He grinned and dug his heels to the animals sides making it gallop down the street. Sen watched him go before turning back at the gate.

"Here goes nothing…" She muttered as she banged at the door. A small hatch opened eyelevel and a pair of brown eyes focused on her. "Hi!"

"What do you want woman?" The guard asked. His tone was bored.

"I have a letter to the Empress." She smiled and waived the paper in front of her.

"Give it to me and I'll see it gets to her Highness." The guard said.

"Nuh-uh. I was told to give it directly to her Highness." Sen argued.

"Who told you that?"

"Tasuki."

The guard vanished from the small window. Shit, Sen thought. But the gate opened soon and she saw the guards standing behind it looking at her curiously.

"Uhh.. Hello." She smiled a nervous smile.

"This way." The guard who had talked with her through the hatch said, getting a hold of her arm.

"Hey leggo." She snarled, digging her heels to the ground.

"Stop struggling." He ordered.

"If you don't let me go I'll…"

"You'll what?" He smirked, looking at her short figure. "Scream?"

"Nope. Do this." Sen smiled sweetly and grabbed her fan.

……………………………..

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

7. Healing powers

"_You'll what?" He smirked, looking at her short figure. "Scream?"_

"_Nope. Do this." Sen smiled sweetly and grabbed her fan._

------

She had few bruises and blood was running from her ripped lip to her jaw and down her neck, but the guards looked more beaten.

It didn't take them long to realize the girl they were fighting knew what she was doing. The guards of the imperial palace would have been impressed had they not been beaten so totally by this girl. Sen moved like the wind, the adrenalin rush was giving her almost godlike speed.

"G'night." Sen nearly grinned as she felt the edge of her fan sink to the soft flesh under the guards chin. She turned to look at the other two, laying on the ground. "Had enough?"

"Wait a minute.. Wasn't there four of you?" She turned around, seeing a stone passage to her right. "Come out come out where ever you are...?" She would have smiled, but she knew better, for every time she moved her mouth more blood poured from her ripped lip.

She sneaked trough the archway, just in time to see a beautiful young woman rising from her spot on a stone bench. A man was sitting next to the bench. He looked straigh at her with one maroon colored eye, looking scared. Funny, she thought, do I look that bad...?

Just then a small voice made her turn just in time to get a very close, slow motion view look of a wooden club. Oops, was her last thought before it connected with her head.

She fell without a sound.

------

He was frozen, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, to the spot where he sat when she looked straight at him. His first thought was to get his mask, second was to hide, the third never came up since she fell to her knees and the dropped down to ground with a soft thud as the last one of the gate guards hit her to the back of her head with his club.

"Sen!" He yelled and was up in a flash, running to get to her side.

Houki looked at the normally so serene monk with open curiosity as she gracefully made her way to the fallen body. When she reached the couple the monk had turned the beaten looking girl around and was reading a letter she had obviously been carrying. The guard was backing away. Houki heard the monk yell for him to get the palace doctors.

"Is she..?" Houki let the question linger.

"She's alive, no da." he answered. Houki could hear the relief in his voice, it made her smile inwardly.

"This is for you." He gave her the letter and started to lift the limp body from the ground when he heard the empress gasp.

"Oh my, it seems the bandit lord is in deed in trouble if he ends his older sister to safety."

"His what?"

"Older sister, it says right here 'Please Empress, take care of oneesan for me.' I didn't know he had relatives living with him." Houki answered. She looked up to see the monk had managed to lift the girl up to a sitting position.

"He doesn't." He answered.

"So it's a honorific then?"

"I guess, no da."

"Intriguing."

------

Sen was in a soft colored place. She felt like she was floating around, but soon her feet met something soft and she sat down. Looking around, she found herself sitting in what seemed like.. Well, like a very big pink bog. Sen quircked an eyebrow.

"Ummm.. Hello?"

Silence.

"Anyone?"

Silence again, but this time it was louder.

Suddenly flames egnited just below her. Sen yelped as she pulled her feet closer to her body.

"Stop it!" She yelled to the nothingness. The flames grew taller. And then she saw the bird inside the flames. "Hey! Hey stop it! There's a live bird in there!" She yelled, unconciously reaching out for the animal. The bird screeched and the flames departed before the girl managed to burn her hands.

"What the..?" Sens stared eyes wide as the flames became the birds tail as it soared through the nothingness. "You were making them all along? Wait! Where are you going?" She yelled after the bird.

"Wait! Don't leave me!"

------

"..on't leave me...Ugh..." Pain. Much pain.

"Sen?" Asked a very familiar voice. Sen turned her head just an inch. Bad move, she thought as the pain flared up in the back of her head. She didn't even try to open her eyes.

"Owww..." She answered, hearing a soft sigh in return.

"Don't move your head, no da."

"Where...?" She asked in small voice. It felt like she had a angry wasps inside her skull.

"At the palace infirmary."

"Am I..?" She risked all and opened her eyes slightly. The wasps seemed to go away.

Her eyes wandered around the room, finally stopping at the monk, who was sitting cross-legged next to her futon. Her gaze lingered just a second too long on his face. And altough the image was a bit hazy she could see how tired he looked. Just how long have I been out cold, she wondered, and has he sat beside me the whole time?

"The doctor said you should be fine, with in a day or two since your abilities.." He started, but was cut out by the girl.

"My what?" Sen tried to quirk her eyebrow, but this made the room spin so she quickly gave up.

"Healing abilities, no da."

"Oh yeah, those.." She reached out her hand to touch her face. It didn't seem to be swollen or anything. By experience, she knew it took a while for the swelling to go away, even with healing abilities. "How long have..?

"Two days."

"Will you let me finish one sentence..." She murmured, mostly to herself.

"Sorry, no da." He blushed slightly.

"Have you been here the whole time?"

"Yes, no da."

"Have you slept?"

"I...No."

Sen sighed as she closed her eyes. She was quiet for a minute before she moved a bit, making room on the futon. She patted the empty spot with her hand.

"What are you...?" He asked, dumbfound.

"Sleep. You look like shit."

"I can't sleep with you."

"Why not?"

"I'm a monk!"

"I know. Vow of celibasy and stuff. Atleast I know I'm safe with you." Sen smiled as she turned her back to the monk. She pulled the cover over her shoulder and tried not to yawn. "I trust you, Houjun."

He stared at the back of her head, now covered in bandages, with a very shocked expression on his face. Had she..? Did she..? When did..? What the..?

It took him few minutes to deside what to do, but in the end the futon started to look very welcoming. Finally, after he was sure she was sleeping, he slipped of his shoes and carefully made more room for him on the futon. With in a second he was asleep.

Sen smiled in her sleep. The healing had already begun.

------

TBC

------

AN: So cute, ne? Ahhh, I'm so used on writing violence I seem to have brough it to this story as well. Sowwy.

And yes, you really can use fan as a weapon. It's called Tessenjitsu or Art of the Iron Fan. There are many cool japanese legends on this subjects. Try googling it or something : )


	8. Chapter 8

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

8. His nightmare

Chichiri peeled of his mask and stared at the slowly falling snowflakes. It was a peaceful scenery, and it made him feel... Serene. He turned as he heard a small gasp behind him.

"What..?" The girl was there, staring at him. "Who are you?"

"It's me." He answered.

"Who?" She took few steps back. "I don't know you."

"It's me, Chichiri no da." He reached out for her, smiling.

"Stay away from me!" She yelled as backed away from him.

"S-Sen?"

"You're a murderer!" (1)

"No, I.. Wait!" He yelled after the girl as she ran from him.

--

"Wait!" He woke up with hands reaching for the dream vision of the girl sleeping next to him. Sen mumbled something in her sleep. Her hand reached out to pat his shoulder as she turned to face him.

"S' ok go t'sleep.." She murmured eyes closed. Chichiri looked down to the girl who had snaked her arm around him. He could see the cut in her lip as a thin pink scar. She was healing up fast. Her ability to do so amazed him, it was like she felt no pain because she knew it would go away as quickly as it came. But how did she know my name? He wondered, I didn't tell it to her, that's for sure. Maybe Tasuki or Koji did, but I can't think any reason why they would.

A soft pink glow made him look down her chest. What the..? It was coming through the fabric of her white pajamas. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but that was the last thing in his mind as he pulled the soft fabric down to reveal more skin. There was a kanji on her chest. It said 'Flower' and it was glowing. Healing powers, he smiled, so they work when she sleeps.

He sighed and pulled the pajama back to its original place. Then started to detach himself from the girl. This proved to be quite a task, since every time he got some part of himself free she grabbed the next part and so on. Finally he stuck a pillow to her side and she hugged it with a happy sigh.

"Hmmm, so I'm just a big pillow to you, no da?" He smiled as he silently stood up.

---

When Sen finally woke up in the afternoon, she found herself looking at the beautiful woman from the gardens. In her sleepy mind, Sen figured the woman was the empress, since it seemed she was reading the letter that was to be given to the empress. She was sitting on a pillow near the door

The woman lifted her purple eyes from the letter when Sen made a small sound.

"Ah, Sen-san." She smiled. "I have been waiting for you to wake up."

"Errr…" What do I say? What do I do? Ack! Heeeelp! Sen blushed deep red as the empress stood up and walked next to her bed. "I.. I.. umm.. Your Highness?"

"Yes?"

"What.. I mean why, no wait.." Sen stuttered. To her surprise the empress laughed as she sat on her bed.

"It is alright Sen-san. The monk asked me to come and visit you, so you would not feel lonely." She brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "But you were asleep."

"Sorry?"

"It's ok. I don't have much to do anyway. Boushin is enjoying torturing his teachers today, so I have what most people call 'day off'."

"Oh."

"So, shall I call the doctors to take a look at you? Do you feel well enough to move?"

"What? No, I'm fine." Sen found herself staring at the empress with unbelieving eyes. Was the woman for real? Somehow she had thought the empress would be more.. Empress-ish, than this. Then again, how many royalties have you met in your life? She silently asked herself. One, was the answer. Sen sighed inside her mind.

"Oh, then shall I take a look of your wounds?"

"Your Highness!" Sen exclaimed, horrified.

"Hmmm?" The woman smiled. "Ah, right. You are not from this world, I seem to have forgotten that." She bowed slightly. "I am sorry. How does one care for the wounded in your world?"

"Err.. Doctors do that. Not royalty."

"Ohh."

"But there's no need really. I'm fine, good as new." Sen made her point by jumping out of the bed and taking few dancing steps. This however woke up her stomach that growled extremely loud. Sen turned to look at the smiling empress with a very red face. "Food would be nice though."

"So I see." The empress clapped her hands and a maid that had been waiting outside the door walked in, carrying a bundle of clothes. "I took the liberty to choose your clothes for today, I hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind." Was Sens answers as she held out the lavish silk dress. "Don't mind at all."

---

The Imperial Palace was a very big place. It had a very big courtyard, very big gardens, very big living quarters and a very big kitchen. Sen was sitting next to the Empress in one of the lounges of the palace and maids were serving them all sorts of food she could think of.

Sen found the young Empress, or Houki as she wished to be called, to be an excellent hostess as they chatted on and on about palace life. In just half an hour, she had heard the latest of rumours and news that went about inside the stone walls. It surprised her that most of the rumours considered herself.

"They really thought I was an assassin..?" She asked in between bites.

"Oh yes." Houki smiled. "My poor, poor guards. You really showed them the power of the 'weaker' sex."

"Err.. Right." Sen gulped. "Sorry about that."

"Oh it's quite alright." Houki took a sip of her tea. "Serves them right.." She added with a quiet voice.

---

Papers, open scrolls, some half eaten dumlings , scattered parchments.

The table in the late emperor's study had seen better days, but Chichiri was learning fast. He wasn't going to disturb Tai itsukun again, for the oracle had been more than generous on her knowledge considering the girl. But the oracle had left out the most important thing; why was the girl here.

The legend of Nu Kwa was the closest thing he could find, but somehow he doubted the girl was there to battle elementals. And he knew by the fact that no elementals had made any sort of war cry in ages.

So the question lingered. Why was the girl here?

"And why did she use that name?"

"I heard it in a dream I had." Came the answer from the doorway.

"Da?" He jumped to the sound, dropping the ink brush he had been playing with for the last ten minutes. His chair clattered to the ground and a hand shot up to make sure his mask was on place, before he turned to look at the girl standing at the doorway. "A dream, no da?"

"Yeah, funny thing though.." Sen let the phrase linger for a moment. "What I saw seemed more like a memory."

"What did you see?" Chichiri turned back to the table and started to clean up the mess he had made.

"I saw a boy in his early twenties, and a girl by the same age standing by a riverbank." She smiled and went to help him.

"And..?"

"And that's it, mostly. She called the boy Houjun." Sen absently collected the scrolls and started to pile them to the chair near the shelves.

"Why did you call me that?"

"I don't know." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's your name though, isn't it?"

"...Yes."

"Then why have I been calling you Chichiri all this time?"

"Chichiri is my sheishi name no da."

"What's that?"

"The name I got when Suzaku decided I was to be one of the seven warriors to protect the Suzaku no miko, no da."

"Ah right, Koji told me something about that."

"I guess he told you about lot of things, no da."

"He did, but I was so drunk I can't really remember most of it." She laughed.

---

It took them an hour pile all the documents away. And by the time they were almost done, Sen was feeling this weird nagging thing at the back of her mind. She raised the next load of papers for Chichiri so he could file them away, when she realized it.

"Oh my.. Your face is peeling."

"Daaa?" The papers fell when his hand shot up to his face.

"On the right side, just below you ear." She pointed a finger to the loose skin.

"Oh, heh, dry air.."

"Here, let me get that for you." Her hand reached out and made him back away.

"No really, it's ok, no da."

"Oh stop being such a baby, it's just a dry piece of skin, it won't hurt."

"Sen stop it!"

"Fine, fine." Sen huffed, but backed away. Just as Chichiri turned to collect the fallen paper, she snaked her hand around his head and pulled the peeling skin. To

her surprise (and his horror) it seemed that his whole face came loose. "What the..?"

He was fast, not as fast as Tasuki, but very close. He pushed her away and ran, leaving the wide eyed girl sitting on the floor of the emperor's study.

---

Sen stared at the empty doorway. For a second she just sat there, dumbfound, before her brains kicked in. She was up in seconds. No way was he getting away, there was something fishy about this and she was determined to find out what it was.

The hallway was deserted by the time she got there, but she had a hunch where the monk might have gone. As she passed the great hall she saw a glimpse of the empress walking with a very young boy. Sen tried to stop in her tracks, but the slippery floor made her crash into one of the stone collums.

"Hey Houki! Wait!" She tried to yell while gasping for air. "Did you see Chichiri?"

"In the garden." Houki answered, pointing one delicate finger to the stone passage on her right. She looked rather dazzeled, but she didn't say anything. As an empress of Konan she was quite used to all sorts of weird things happening around her. The little boy hid behind her, but Sen managed to smile at him.

"Thanks." Sen answered and then she was gone again.

---

He sat on his rock by the pond.

She had seen it, he was sure. And now she would run. Just like in the dream.

The scar on his face was a constant remainder of the crime he had committed all those years ago. She should run. And she should run fast and far away. He was, after all, a murderer.

A small voice in the back of his mind tried, as always, to say, it was an accident, but as always, he didn't want to listen to it.

I shouldn't have run, he thought.

A twig snapped behind him, making him turn sharply at the sound. But before his eyes could focus he found himself thrown off balance by the girl he had just been thinking.

The grass was long enough to soften the fall, but still Sen had the wind knocked out of her. She gasped for air as she sat up, holding most of her weight on her arms. Chichiri looked at the girl with shocked expression, had she really tackled him?

"Why?" She coughed. "Why do you have to run?" She leaned forward, looking close to the monks face. He winced but didn't back away. "Like, couldn't you just walk?"

"Wh-What?"

"Walk. It's like running, but much slower pace." He started to rise up. "No no no, stay there. No running. No more." She grabbed his hand. "Please, I'm totally exhausted. "

"What?"

"I'm not as fit as you, I don't walk to places, I don't do yoga." She smiled at the face he was making. "I don't like running, even if it's after you, so please, stay."

"…"

"Great." She leaned back until her back came in contact with the rock he had been sitting on. "Now, tell me about that thing you face did back at the study."

"…"

"Please."

He muttered something.

"Come again?"

"It's a mask."

"Oh. Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes."

"Just okay.?"

"What would you like me to say?"

"..."

"Look Chichiri, if you're wearing a mask then you probably have a very good reason to keep your face hidden." She reasoned. "So what else would I say, but okay."

He remained quiet, staring at the girl sitting infront of him. Somehow, somewhere, inside his head something klicked. He reached out for the mask and peeled it off, and trying very hard, he managed to lift his gaze from the grass as he heard her gasp. Here it comes, he thought, it made him grimase.

"You're the man from the gardens!" Sen exclaimed, making Chichiri tense up. "Wow, I thought I had something on my face, but it was you all along. How silly!"

"Wh-Wh-What?"

"You looked so scared back then, it's the only thing I remember." She laughed as she reached out to the mask he was holding with limb fingers. "I thought I must have looked really bad, to make someone look so scared, but you were scared because you were not wearing this." She held the mask between them.

"I thought.."

"You think too much Houjun." Sen stood up. "You need to relax a bit, or you'll burn up."

"Please, don't call me that."

"What? Houjun? Why not?" Sen looked puzzled "It's your name."

"It's name for a mu.. a bad person Sen, please don't use it."

"Hmmm.. Fine, but only if you promise me something in return." She grinned at the face he made.

"What?"

"Stop wearing this, "She held the mask infront his face. "When your with me."

"I.. Can't."

"Please?"

"You don't know what you are asking." He murmured.

"Sure I do." She stated. "I'm asking you to be yourself rather than.. This." She dropped the mask to the grass and stood up. He averted his eyes and when she got no answer from him she just shrugged her shoulders and walked away, leaving behind a very shaken monk.

---

TBC

---

AN: Sorry to dissapoint you, but I'm not going to make Sen ask about IT. You'll just hafta wait :)

(1) A Gollum moment! XD


	9. Chapter 9

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

9. Back to the bandits lair

It was very late night when the gates of the Imperial palace opened. Soft voices murmured something and a horse and a rider soon galloped away. The gates were closed and all was quiet again.

---

Houki had tried to reason with her, but Sen had kept her mind. And there she was, riding alone in the middle of a moonless night, in pitch-black, on a bloody horse, back to Mt. Reikaku. At least it was not snowing, yet. Her mind was too occupied by a certain monk for her t notice the danger she had put herself. And of course, being mad as hell didn't help much either.

She had made the empress to promise that Chichiri would not know of this. No one was to know of this. Not yet. The pain was too fresh. Sen sighed and let the horse away from the main road to a narrow path between the tall trees. The road to the bandit fortress was not short, but if she rode through the forest it would save her couple of hours.

The horse trotted steadily, nearly lulling her to sleep. Sen mentally slapped herself to stay awake, when she found herself nearly falling of the horse.

"Come on, you stupid beast. Gallop or something."

The horse didn't listen. Sen growled in annoyance, but let the beast have its way. She was pretty sure the horse would just throw her off and she didn't fancy walking in the woods at night.

Sen yawned. Maybe I should have waited until morning, she thought. Ah never mind, she added as an after thought as the sun started to rise. Her surrounding changed as the light hit the forest. Birds came out and started chriping. Sen yawned again. How long had she been riding? Hours? Seemed so, her back was killing her and the early winter winds were chilling her to the bone.

---

Few hours later she stopped at a small mountain stream. She slumped down of the horse and stretched her arms making the joints pop on her shoulders. The horse seemed happy enough to be free of her weight. It walked to the stream and had a drink.

"Don't wander off too far." Sen yawned as she got the quilt she had borrowed out and sat to the soft grass. She leaned her back to a tree and wrapped the quilt around her. She was asleep in seconds. The horse walked back to the girl and started to eat the last bits of the green grass available.

The horse looked at the girl dozing off. It was a war horse, bred and trained in the imperial stables. It was as strong as a horse could be, but with a gentle spirit. Perhaps too gentle, for a warhorse. Its training told it to stay near the girl, even though it would have loved to have more to eat than just the grass.

Its ears perked to the unusual sound form the tree. It looked up and saw a beautiful red bird sitting above them. The bird looked at the horse, and then the girl. It seemed to wink before it flew away.

Had the horse been able, it would have sighed.

---

"Sen!"

"It's Sen!"

"Oneesan's here!"

She was greeted by grinning faces as she rode through the gate on Mt. Reikaku fortress. Sen soon found herself surrounded by men trying to say hello. But two were missing. She got a hold of one of the young bandits as she was helped down from her horse.

"Fai. Where's Koji? And Tasuki?" She asked after several pats to the back and quick hugs. Then she noticed how beaten the boy looked. "And what happened to you?"

"War happened." He answered, with a grin. "Tasuki is negotiating a peace treaty."

"And Koji?" The boy looked past her, but before she could turn she found herself in bear hug by the bandit in question.

"What the hell 're ya doing 'ere?" He asked with a grin. "I thought Genro Told ya to stay in the palace."

"He did." She laughed.

"Ha! I can't wait fer him to find out yer back." He ruffled her hair. "He's gonna be mad though, he won't like ya coming 'ere before it's safe an' all."

"I know."

"Come on then, let's go tell him"

"You'll come with me?"

"Like I would miss a show this big."

---

It was big show, yes. After Tasuki got over the initial shock he, of course being Tasuki, yelled. Quite a lot. And to everyone's horror, Sen yelled back, twice as much. But after several hostile minutes the two started to laugh it off.

Koji declared them both mental.

Sake was soon ordered.

It was one Hell of a show.

---

TBC

---

AN: Sorry about the short chapter, but come on, I can't write 2000 words every time now can I? Ah I know excuses, excuses... sowwy.

One Hell of a show coming in next chapter. It's time to bring out the bad guys! I promise thee blood and gore.


	10. Chapter 10

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

10. Dreams of Blood and Gore

Tasuki snored away. It had taken Koji and Sen several tries to get him inside his room and into bed, but they finally managed to do so. Now the duo was leaning to the wall outside the bandit lords room.

"He's really phiclastered." Sen giggled.

"Yer not all that sober either ya know...?" Was the reply she got. They walked (sort of) down the corridor and turned from the corner.

"I know." She smiled. "But hic damn, that was a good party."

"I think we need to get ya to bed too." He laughed when she slumped against him. He casually threw her over his shoulder.

"hic Oi, I'm not a bag of potatoes!" She protested, but soon quieted down as she found the wiev on his backside rather nice.

"What the hell is a potato...? Damn girl. Whatte hell did they feed ya there. Yer as light as a feather..." He muttered as he stopped by her door. "Come on oneesan, in ya go."

---

Sen woke up in a very dark room. She yawned and stretched her arms, waiting for the hangover headache to kick in. But it never did. With curiosity to the fact that she might have beaten the hangover for the first time in 4 years, she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. And then the room flashed into bright white light making her shield her eyes with her hands.

"What the...?"

"So you have come." Said a deep voice. "You, who are destined to stop me."

"Eh?"

"But do you even know who you are facing now?"

"What?"

"Answer the question woman!" Came an inpatient reply somewhere near. Sen could hear a whizzing sound and then there was pain on her sides. Quite a lot of pain. Her hands dropped to cover her sides and she found herself standing in a pool of blood. What the hell? Her mind screamed, but she was able to let her eyes wander to the man standing some feet away. He was coiling up something that resembled a whip, but was far too thin to be one. He smirked at her in a way that made her blood run cold.

"Where am I? Who are you?" She questioned.

"I am Yousui." Answered the man in front of her. It seemed like she should have recognized the name, but all he got was a blank look.

"Who?" Her question resulted into world of pain as the wires he had been coiling up suddenly shot out, slashing her skin. She dropped down to her knees and tried to shield her face with her hands. The smell of blood made her feel nauseated.

If only I had my fan, she thought, waiting for the wires to pull away. They did eventually, but Sen found herself unable to stand up. It hurt too much to even try.

"Yousui." Called the deep voice.

"Yes my lord?" The man answered.

"That is enough for now."

"Yes my lord."

Sen peeked between her fingers. She could see a hazy image of a man with white hair standing up from the pool of blood. She couldn't make out his face.

"Wha-What do you want w-with me?" She managed to stutter. She was loosing the feeling on her feet and hands. It scared her more than the man now standing in front of her.

"I'm here to tell you the truth you have been seeking."

"Oh yeah? What truth?"

"The truth about the man behind the mask."

"Chi-Chichiri?"

"Is that what he calls himself today...?"

Sen tried to stood up, but was pushed back by the man. She could feel the blood rise up to her neck. Is he going to drown me? She wondered, but he stopped just when her face was about to submerge.

"He was known as Houjun once. Houjun Ri." He started. "He was engaged to the prettiest girl in the village, but is was a story that eventually got a very sad ending." He smiled, it made Sens stomach turn.

"I know that." She lied.

"But did you know she killed herself soon after their engagement?" Sen stared him with wide eyes. "Ah, I see that was new to you. But it is true, she killed herself and soon after that, this Houjun, this selfish, jealous, petty Houjun killed his best friend."

"You're lying." Sen hissed between her teeth.

"Am I?" He lifted her up a bit, drawing her face near his. "Now, why would I do such a thing?"

"I don't know." Sen tried to turn her face away. "Maybe you're just mental!"

"Silly little girl." He smiled. "Did you ever ask him about that scar of his? Hmmm?"

"I had no need..." Sen tried, but it came out as lame as she thought it would.

"You should have, my dear, you should have." he gave a theatrical sigh. "For he got that scar when he committed the ultimate crime, and took the life of his best friend since childhood."

"Why.. Why are you telling me this?" She could feel tears in her eyes.

"I'm on not going to lie to you my dear." He smiled again. "I'm telling you this because you are the one called out to stop me, but as you can see, I can't be stopped by a little girl and a murderer, but if I must I just might be tempted to show you just how powerful I can be."

"That's.. a..Lousy..Explanation." Sen growled, calling up what was left of her power. "You liar!"

"The man you should trust has lied to you, and still you stand in front of me calling me a liar?" He seemed genuinely surprised.

"Yeah."

The smile died. He dropped her body to the blood. The pain was starting to go away, she wasn't sure it was a good thing, but it made it easier for her to try and get up.

"Then you really are not a match for me..." He started to walk away. "And after I destroy your little bandit friends, you'll be nothing."

"W-Wait.." Sen reached out for the man, earning yet another onslaught from the wires. "I said wait goddamit!" She screamed. It made the walls of the pool grumbled and the wires dropped dead to the pool of blood. It also made the man turn and look at her with surprise. "Who the hell are you?" She questioned, wiping the blood away from her face. "Who the hell are you? And what the hell do you think you're going to accomplish by this?"

"So you do have spirit after all."

"Just answer the damn questions."

"Time for you to wake up."

"What?"

---

And she woke up to the world of pain. Her skin was full of cuts, the blood was starting to dry and it was gluing her to the mattress. She tried to scream, but all the noise she could make out was pathetic whining. She gasped for air, tears were running down her face.

"Help me..." She silently cried. "Someone.. Please..." She gasped for air. "Chichiri..." The image of the monk played in her mind. I didn't even get to explain myself, I didn't get to say.. Anything. I'm going to die, and I didn't get to tell him why I left, she cried harder. "I don wanna die.." Her hazy mind traveled to the bandits. Tasuki-chan, Koji-kun.. He said he would kill them, I can't let him. Their my bothers goddammit!

"My family.." She whispered in weak voice.I can't let my family die. "Not again..." Then get up and save yourself! She mentally slapped herself. Get up Sarah Elisabeth Nolan! Get up or you're going to die!

With great effort, she was able to drop to the floor and drag herself to the door. There she stopped to breathe for a while. It's funny, she thought, it really seems that when you're dying everything slows down. She gasped and reached out to open the door. When she finally managed to the it open she fell again. Scream, she tried to mentally force herself, scream, dammit!

"Help... Me." No use, it still came out as a whisper. "Anyone..."

---

Tasuki woke up like someone had hit him to the face. He stood up and was out of the room in seconds. He dashed to the empty corridors, looking for something. Something, he wondered, whatthe hell am I doing? He stopped dead on his tracks.

And that is when he heard the whisper.

---

Half a kingdom away, Chichiri woke up in cold sweat.

---

TBC

---

AN: Haaa! Her name, the whole name, for the first time! How many of you noticed it, hmmm?

I promised blood and gore, didn't I? Didn't I? But the next chapter will be more.. well, fluff..I guess...It shall be called 'Never sleep again.' (From the song in Nightmare on Elm street, the best horror movie, EVER! ...Eheh... I have.. issues.. I know... ;)


	11. Chapter 11

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

11. Never sleep again

Chichiri sat on his bed in the dark room. What the…? He rubbed his eye, trying to remember what had woken him up. "This feeling..." He whispered out loud.

"Meow."

"Tama-neko?" He turned to look at the cat sitting on the windowsill. "When did you get back?"

"Meow?"

"No, I don't have any fish, no da." He smiled.

"Meow." It looked like the small white-brown cat shrugged. Then Tama-neko jumped down and quietly made his way to the door. He turned to look at the monk like he was waiting for something.

"Yeah yeah, I know." Chichiri sighed and got up. "But the cook doesn't like you hanging around the kitchen, no da." he laughed, petting the cat as they walked. "Even though you do keep the mice at bay, no da. So.."

_"...Chichiri..."_

"Huh...?" He stopped dead on his tracks.

_"...I don wanna die..."_

"What the…?" He looked around the empty hallway. No one was there. "Then who..? Oh no.." The realisation made him stumble so he had to lean to the wall for support. "Oh no.. Sen…" Without thinking Chichiri grabbed the cat by the neck and ran back to his room. He dropped the animal to his bed and hastily gathered his things. Within five minutes he was all dressed up and ready to go.

"Meow!" Tama-neko protested loudly as the monk stuffed him inside his shirt.

"Sorry." Chichiri apologised just before they vanished into the blue cape. Had he looked back he would have seen the paper mask on his bedside table, but he was in too much of a hurry to notice something was missing. Sen's dying, I know it. I can feel it. He scratched the cat's ears as he thought.

"Why?" He whispered.

"Meow?"

"No, not you."

"Meow?"

"Sen." He answered to the cat that was looking up at him. "The girl from Miaka's world no da." He added with soft voice.

"Meow."

"What do you mean 'oh her'?"

"Meow meow meow."

"It's nothing like that!" He blushed. "We're just friends!"

"Meow."

Chichiri sighed. The cat was right.

---

It was snowing outside.

Somehow his brains registered this as he stared at the unmoving body laying on the floor in front of him. His hazel eyes followed a droplet of blood as it travelled down her cheek, ending up to the tip of her nose. The red drop lingered for a while before it dropped down to join the growing puddle of blood that was pooling under her.

"Sen?" He whispered the name. She opened her eyes. Her hazy blue gaze wandered a while before it stopped at him. She stared at him with unseeing eyes.

"Help..." She begged it quiet voice. Her head dropped back down.

"No!" He was at her side in a flash. "Li Mei." He whispered in weak voice. "Somebody get Li Mei!"

---

The girl was a mess. She lay there practically naked, although now nearly covered up in bandages, on Tasukis bed. He had managed to carry her there, before the healer had come running down the corridor with Koji and few of the other bandits. The healer, Li Mei, had pushed the men outside and started to investigate her wounds.

"Come on Sen-chan. If you pull through this you can have all my silk sashes. Every last one." Li Mei was frustrated. She had been with her for an hour or so and she still wasn't all patched up. It seemed that every time Li Mei got one wound bandaged another one started to bleed next to it. She sighed and wiped her brow with a blood covered hand. The girl hissed in pain as she tied yet another bandage to her leg. It was amazing that the girl had been concious for so long.

"How's she doin'?" Tasuki asked as he made his way back to the room. He was carrying more bandages and other stuff Li Mei had ordered. Koji was there to close the door behind him. The healer shook her head. Tasuki sighed in defeat and sat down next to the bed. He reached out to Sens hand. The girl cried out from pain.

"Shh, it's ok. Almost over now." He comforted her while shooting a look at the healer. Li Mei shook her head again. "Yer gonna be just fine, as good as new."

"You're.. A terrible.. Liar." She managed to whisper before the darkness finally swallowed her.

"I know." He sighed. At least now she would not feel a thing.

Finally, after another hour had passed, the healer got up. She wiped most of the blood off her hands and then signalled Tasuki to follow her outside the room. Her tired face was not promising anything. They let Koji in as they exited the room.

---

Koji stared at the small figure covered up in bandages that was lying on the bed. He had been standing in the room for the last ten minutes, but he couldn't just bring himself to take the steps to her bedside. It's my fault, he thought. I should have checked the room before I pushed her inside. I should have heard her scream, I should have done.. Something. He tried to speak, but the words were stuck to his throat.

She turned her head slightly to the sound he was making and opened her eyes.

"Oneesan." He managed to whisper.

"Koji-kun?" She tried to sit up, but quickly gave up as the pain that had been sleeping flared up. She hissed few curses between her teeth and dropped back to the soft mattress.

"Yeah it's me." He answered and walked next to her bed and kneeled down to be at eyelevel with her.

"Tasuki-chan?" She asked quietly.

"Outside, talkin' with Li Mei." He answered.

Sen nodded.

"Oneesan." He whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"Why?" She whispered.

"I didn't check the room." He reached out to push a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "If I had then the assassin who did this.."

"No." She stopped him. "No assassin."

"What?"

"No assassin. A demon, in my dream"

---

Chichiri popped out from his cape at the gates of the Mt. Reikaku fortress. He quickly gathered the blue fabric and made sure Tama-neko was unharmed. Then he looked up the gate and murmured a spell as he walked closer to it. The heavy doors flew open, startling the young bandits that were keeping watch.

"Oi, monk." One of them called after him. "Ya could learn howta knock!" But he wasn't listening as his mind was too occupied by her chi. He could sense fear, and loneliness.. And pain, quite a lot of pain. Tama-neko hissed jumped out of his shirt. The cat ran up the stairs.

"What the..?" He ran after the animal. It was rare for Tama-neko to run anywhere, so he followed him as fast as he could. And soon found him as a purring mass of fur in the lap of very surprised Tasuki.

"Tama-chan!" The bandit petted the cat. "Whatcha doin here?"

"He came with me no da." Chichiri answered as he made his way to the couple. "Li Mei-san."

"Chichiri-sama." The woman bowed slightly.

"Sen..?"

"She 'n there, Koji's with her."

"Is she ok?" Tasuki and Li Mei shared a look. It didn't go unnoticed by the monk. "What happened?"

"She was.. Attacked." Tasuki tentatively said. He could se his friend tense up.

"Attacked. How? By who?"

"We don't know." Tasuki looked away, he seemed ashamed. "But it was severe." He gently lowered Tama-neko to the floor. "We.. We don't know if she'll live through the night."

"But her powers.."

"They aren't working. I dunno what's wrong.." Tasuki looked more beaten than at the time Tamahome had attacked him in Kutou palace. The young bandit was forced to face a problem he couldn't solve with force, and it was driving him mad.

"They only work when she sleeps." Chichiri sighed, patting his friends shoulder.

"Then we might have a problem..." Koji said in grim voice as he opened the door and joined the trio. He looked at the monk with a question evident on his face.

"Just got here." Chichiri said. "What problem?"

"It seems she was attacked by a demon of some sort. A dream demon." Koji answered.

"A demon?" Chichiri asked. "What demon? Did she say a name?"

"No, just that the demon did this to her." Koji shook his head making his dark hair fall over his eyes. "She said.. She said she won't sleep again. She's too scared." Tasuki and Chicihri shared a worried look.

"Let me talk to her." Chichiri finally said. "I think I can make her change her mind."

---

Sen could sense someone coming in to the room again. She growled in frustration. Why couldn't they just let her be, lick her wounds and all that shit. She sensed the person to stop next to her bed and she could hear the person sit down to the chair. She opened her eyes slightly to see who was the one she could feel staring down at her. Blue eyes met one very worried looking magenta eye.

"Chichiri?" The first thing her brains registered was the fact that he wasn't wearing his mask. The next one was that she was naked from waist up, although covered in bandages. She made a feeble attempt to collect the quilt that lay over her feet, but he was faster, tugging the fabric over her chest. "How.. Why are you here?"

"I heard you." He said.

"What?"

"I heard you calling me." He smiled a little. At least she was not pushing him away. "I came here as fast as I could, but it wasn't fast enough."

"No one couldn't have stopped him." She whispered.

"Who was it?"

"I dunno. He didn't tell me his name." She closed her eyes. "But I think.. I can remember the other guy..."

"Other guy?"

"Hey, you dropped the no da again."

"Only you would notice that in a time like this." He managed to chuckle. "The other guy?"

"I think he said his name was Yousui." She opened her eyes. "I'm really not in the mood for this."

"I know." He sighed. "Koji said you won't sleep."

"It's true."

"But your powers.."

"I don't care."

"Sen."

"I won't." She cried out. "He made me see.. Terrible things. He said he would kill Koji.. And Tasuki." She shook her head slightly. "I can't risk it."

"I don't think they care about that." He tried.

"But I do." She whispered back fiercely.

"Fine." He held his hands up in defeat. "But what if there was someone guarding your sleep?"

"It doesn't matter. He comes after me in my dreams, no one can guard those."

"That's not exactly true."

"What?"

"I could, technically, guard your dreams." He scratched the back of his head. "But there's a catch."

"There's always a catch."

"I would be able to see all your dreams."

"That's not so bad.."

"All the dreams Sen. Every last one of them, even the ones you really don't want to share."

"Ohh." She blushed, and was very thankful for the bandages covering most of her face. There were few dreams she absolutely, positively, didn't want him to see. "Can't you, like, look the other way or something?"

"It's not that simple."

"I need to think about this."

"You don't have much time."

"I know." She sighed. "Just give me a minute."

---

Tasuki was leaning his ear to the door. Koji was next to him. Li Mei was rolling her eyes, privacy, yeah right, in this fortress? Although she was curious too, she refrained herself and stood few feet away from the door. Suddenly both bandits jumped back and the door opened.

"She will do it no da." Chichiri said to the trio. He quirked an eyebrow at the bandits who were 'acting casual'. "But I guess you already knew that no da."

"Err.. Yeah." Tasuki admitted.

"I need you to keep watch and make sure I won't fall asleep too no da." Chichiri smiled at his curious friend. Some things seem to run in the family.

"Consider it done." Tasuki promised at once.

"Koji, Li Mei-san. I need you to stay here and make sure no one gets in this room, no da."

The healer and the bandit nodded.

"Okay. Lets do this."

---

TBC

---

AN: I get to write dirty dreams. Whee! I get to write dirty dreams. Whee! I get to write dirty dreams. Whee! ….Ahem, right. 0.o

That was a long chapter, and the hardest one to write so far. Next one '12. Trust In Me'. (psssst, The Jungle Book ) should be done.. Soon…


	12. Chapter 12

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

12. Trust In Me

They stared at each other. Tasuki was sitting next to the bed, keeping his eyes on the couple and when the girl's eyes started to slowly close, he let out a breath he hadn't noticed he had been holding. When it was evident that the girl was truly asleep, Chichiri turned to look at his friend.

"Remember, don't let me fall asleep."

"Yeah yeah." The bandit smirked.

"Here goes nothing." And with that he closed his eyes and concentrated to the task at hand. Tasuki curiously leaned forward, but was sent stumbling back when a pink light exploded from her chest covering the room in soft glow.

---

Chichiri stood there.

But where was there?

It was a pink-ish maze of ever changing sceneries. He was inside her dreams.

---

He turned as the scenery changed rapidly, as did the time from day to night. It started to rain hard. He was soaked in seconds. A strange, loud noise made him turn just in time to see some sort of metallic monster was coming right at him. With years of practiced agility he dodged the monster, but got a glimpse of a smiling young girl inside it. The thing had see through parts, just like windows. He stared in awe as the monster started to slide from side to side. Just before it hit the tree and vanished to the forest, he realized there was something wrong with the thing.

Chichiri took one tentative step closer as the road remained silent. And then he heard it.

"Help.. Me..." Someone cried. "P-Please!" He stared eyes wide the young girl now covered in blood as she crawled towards the place where the monster had vanished. "Mom." She choked stopping for a while. "D-Dad!"

He ran to her side and kneeled down. He got a hold of her shoulders, making her stop. She struggled for a while before sagging down into a crying bundle of wet clothes and blood covered skin. He hugged her, trying to calm her down.

"No!" She gasped for air. "Mom.. Dad... J-Justin..."

"Shhh... It's ok." She turned to look at him and he nearly dropped her back to the ground. Blue eyes. Her eyes. "Sen?" He had found her.

Just then, the dream changed.

---

Chichiri found himself staring at himself. A mirror? He reached out for the image, and truly it was a reflection. His fingers glided on the smooth surface of the mirror and then went right through it. He yelped and pulled his hand back. With his hand he also pulled back a young boy, about the age of ten. The boy smiled at the stunned monk, his red hair was sticking up in all directions, and little fangs were grazing his lips.

"T-Tasuki?"

The boy shook his head. His blue eyes twinkled with mischief.

"No." Chichiri realized it. The boy was obviously Sen's brother. "You're Justin aren't you?"

The boy nodded once and stood up. He held out a hand for the monk, who hesitated for a second before taking it. They walked through the mirror and then the dream changed again.

---

This time he recognized the place instantly. He was back at Mt. Reikaku.

With curiosity he walked around the courtyard until he came to the main gate of the fortress. The gate was open so he walked in, praying he would find her fast. It seemed someone was listening since he could hear laughter coming his way, fast. Before he could look for the source of the noise, the girl stumbled at him, making them both fall down to the ground.

"Chichiri!" She looked surprised, and somehow pleased. And just as he was starting to sit up she dipped her head down and kissed him.

And then the dream changed.

---

He sat up. His hand flew to his lips. One magenta eye stared at the changing scenery without seeing a thing.

"She... Kissed me." A smile was tugging his lips. She had tasted sweet, like she had just eaten peaches or apricots.

The scenery stopped at what seemed like a cave. The black rock under his fingers felt somehow wrong though. It was slimy and when he looked at his hand he saw that it was covered in blood. Chichiri slowly stood up, wondering what was coming up next. Sen's dreamworld was proving to be a quite chaotic place.

"You are not supposed to be here." Said a deep voice. And then the dream changed again.

He found himself staring at the mirror again.

"Lot of good that did…" He mumbled. A hand came from the mirror and winked for him to follow.

---

Tasuki stared with awe as the cuts on her nose closed up.

"That's one cool power ya got there oneesan." He whispered. Then he settled back to his chair and yawned. It was nearly morning.

---

Chichiri emerged into a hall full of pictures. Pencil and crayon drawings, watercolour paintings, sketches, the works. Every inch of the walls were occupied by some sort of picture. He looked closer at one of the pictures and found himself staring at himself, again.

"What the..?" He ripped the drawing down from the wall and stared at it. It was definitely him, standing on a riverbank alone. He dropped the drawing and went for another; it was him again, this time he was meditating at the palace. Next one was him talking with someone. The next one, and the next one, and the next one. All about him.

"Are these memories?." He whispered. "Of me?" He grabbed another drawing and blushed deep red. "That's definitely not a memory…" He folded the drawing and let it drop. He reached out for another. And again stared it with wide eyes. "Nope, definitely not a memory.. This doesn't make any sense..."

He turned to look down the hall, the pictures went on and on. For a second he actually thought of going through them, but then realized that he was invading a very personal place. Not to mention it would be really stupid to delay his search for the girl.

He turned and walked away.

---

The dream changed again when he got to the end of the hall. He turned to look back, but there was only darkness, and stars. It was the night sky. He looked down and found himself standing near the palace fountains.

"I Remember this." He smiled to the memory. "This is where I tried to teach her how to meditate."

Slender hands circled his waist from behind. He jumped to the touch and turned to see the girl stand there looking up at him with a lopsided smile. Her hair was down, and she was wearing her pajama top. She seemed to glow.

"You came." Sen whispered.

"I promised you, didn't I?" He answered.

"You did." She agreed while she snuggled into the crook of his neck, and pressed her hips to him. He was more than a little surprised, but didn't push her away. "I thought you wouldn't come after what I did in the gardens."

"What?" Chichiri quirked an eyebrow at this.

"When I ran away." She nearly purred. It was coming painfully obvious to him that she was wearing only her pajama top. "I thought you would be mad at me."

"Why would I be..?" The question ended in to a startled gasp as she trailed butterfly kisses along his collarbone. "..Mad...?" Her mouth rested for a while over the pulse at the side of his neck before it moved back up. Her hands seemed to everywhere. The pictures in the hall had started to make a hell of a lot more sense now.

It's a dream, his mind whispered, her dream, she doesn't know you're real.

"No..." With a groan he pushed her away.

"No?" She looked surprised, and then hurt. And then as he had guessed, she ran.

The dream changed.

---

Justin walked in front of him in the pink maze. The boy was quiet; he never said one word as the walked.

"I need to find her." Chichiri said when they stopped. "I can't help her unless I find her."

The boy stopped. He looked back at the monk and sighed. Then he tapped his nose and vanished.

"Huh?" Chichiri stared at the place where the boy had stood. The ground beneath him grumbled. "Uh oh.."

---

And he was back at the cave again, but this time he was guided by an invisible hand inside the cave. No one spoke to him. All was quiet. Blood trickled down the rock, forming pools here and there. Chichiri was soon covered up in the sticky liquid. I look like a butcher in a very bad day, he smirked.

The invisible hand vanished, leaving him alone in to the cave. He shrugged his shoulders and went on until he came across two pathways. He choose the left first, but soon found himself back to the spot. So he choose the right next, but again was sent back to the same place. He growled in frustration and was just about to walk back when he heard the smallest cry.

"Sen!" He yelled. "Where are you?"

It felt like hundreds of eyes had turned to look at him. Oops, he thought, right before the floor vanished under him. This can't be good, he thought and then plummeted face first into a pool of blood.

Then there was just darkness.

---

Sen saw him drop from the ceiling of the cave. Her eyes went wide from fear as she made her way to the spot were he had submerged. The blood was down to her waist and it made moving around nearly impossible. The two demon kings stood from their spot. Miru looked at the scene with open curiosity, but her brother Renhou didn't seem all that surprised.

"Chichiri!" Sen screamed. "Where are you! Chichiri?" She dived under the sticky liquid, but found nothing. Her fingers grazed the sharp stones, but she never noticed that. After a few dives she finally managed to get a hold of his shirt. She was exhausted, but managed to pull him up. Tears started to fall down her cheeks, making stripes as they washed the blood away.

"No no no..." She wailed. "Why him? Not him!" She screamed at the man now standing in front of her. "Anyone but him! You bastard!"

---

Soft snores echoed in the bedroom. Tasuki was leaning back on his chair, sleeping.

Next to the bed, the monk had also fallen asleep.

The pink glow was starting to die away.

---

Sen growled. She stood up from the rock and faced the purple haired man, placing herself between the demons and the monk. She didn't have anything against the two and they knew it, but still she took the defensive post Koji had taught her.

"Why do you still wish to fight? He pushed you away in the gardens, you saw it yourself." The man smiled coldly.

"That wasn't me, that was my dream-image. I know how this works now." Sen's voice was trembling with hate. "If you hurt him, I swear, I'll make you pray for death Renhou."

"Oh so vulgar." The man rolled his eyes. "I'll just send him back to his own nightmares."

"His nightmares?" Her eyes went wide. "You wouldn't...?"

"Oh yes, I would." The demon smiled.

"No!" She yelled, turning to see the monk vanish. She took few steps back to where he had been. "Chichiri wake up! It's just a dream!" She screamed after him.

"He can't hear you." Miru smiled.

"No!" She yelled, and then she ran.

---

Sen cried the tears of frustration. She had been trying to get out from the blood covered maze for what seemed like hours. She was so tired, so ready to give up, so ready to just curl up and die. She could hear the laughter of the demon kings as they walked behind her. For some reason they didn't attack her, but they mocked her and it was even worse.

"Do you think he loves you? He loves his dead fiancée..." Miru said in sing song voice.

"He pushed you away in the gardens, you saw it yourself..." Renhou whispered.

"He's a murderer.. You're better of without him.." Miru sighed theatrically. It went on and on. Even when Sen tried to shield her ears the softly spoken words somehow managed to get inside her head.

"Stop it." Sen whispered to the thin air.

More laughter.

"I said stop it goddammit!" The walls of the cave grumbled. The demon kings hesitated and it didn't go unnoticed by the girl. Her spirit flared up. Pink light emitted from her chest. "Leave me the fuck ALONE!" She screamed with all her might. The flower kanji on her chest seemed to explode, lighting the dark space in bright pink.

The darkness faded. The walls of the cave grumbled and fell. Sen found herself standing in pink mist.

"Holy shit..." She exhaled. "Holy shit... I did it!"

Behind her, a red bird was flying away.

---

TBC

---

AN: Haa Haa! You actually thought I was going to write dirty dreams? Aww, this is a pg-13 fic. ..For now. Although I am temped on writing just how dirty Sen's mind can be. Maybe I'll do an extra side story later…

About the dreamworld, remember Twin Peaks? I'm sane. No logs. Enough said.

And yes yes, her little brother looked like Gen-chan. Is that a surprise? It's the same bloodline and all.

Next chapter: '13. Behind the Mask' coming in Jan 2006!


	13. Chapter 13

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

13. Behind the Mask

Sen tapped her nose couple of times with her index finger.

"What to do? What to do? What to do?"

She tried to concentrate, but it no avail. Her mind was too occupied by the fact that she seemed to be awake in her own dreamland. The changing sceneries were driving her insane little by little.

"Calm. Down." She said to herself as she sat down to a pink bubble. "Concentrate."

She closed her eyes and thought back to the time she came to this universe. She thought how it had felt being all alone in the world, and how it felt when she realised she wasn't alone anymore. She thought of Koji and Tasuki teaching her how to fight. She thought the time Chichiri had pulled the fan out of his hat, magic, he had said.

"The hat." She murmured, opening her eyes. A small smile played across her face. "That's it." She closed her eyes again and tried to remember a dream where he was in. Quite a few came up, but none of them were.. Usable. After a while she was ready to give up, when the hat suddenly was there. It just popped out from nothingness as she reached out for it.

"Yes!" She let out a small hysterical laughter.

---

He smiled at the girl. The sun was at her back so he couldn't see her face, but he didn't need to. He knew her honest face, every inch of it. He waved his hand goodbye and watched his two best friends walk off.

---

Sen emerged from the hat. She fell for few feet and landed on a soft, wet, grass. She quickly tied the hat to her neck, letting it fall on her back.

"Chichiri!" She yelled. "Chichiri! Where are you!"

No answer. Well, that would have been too easy. She grimaced and took one tentative step forward. When nothing jumped at her she grew bolder. Her gaze wandered the riverbank as she walked forward.

"Come on, where are you?" She whispered, just as she came across a huge fallen tree. She climbed over it with ease and the sat down and leaned her back to the tree trunk. I'm not going to find him this way; she despaired, letting her head hung. This is pathetic.

Laughter.

Sen's head shoot up. She looked over the fallen tree to see a girl under her twenties walking with a boy by the same age. The girl was laughing and the boy reached out for her and held her hand.

"What the..?"

She saw another boy stand next to the fallen tree. Sen tried to hide, but soon realized the boy couldn't see her. He was too occupied looking at the couple now kissing. Sen quirked an eyebrow as the boy turned and walked away. She turned her attention back to the couple just in time to see the girl look at the boy that had kissed her, with horror in her pretty eyes.

"Oh.. My.. God…" Sen whispered to herself. "That's his dead fiancée…" She turned to look at the boy walking away.

"Then that's gotta be…" Her eyes went wide. "Chichiri…"

The dream changed rabidly.

---

"Wh-Why?" He cried. The hand that was holding the dagger trembled. His other hand grabbed the boy standing in front of him on the river bank. "Why did you betray me?"

Sen stood few feet's away from the two, eyes wide with horror. Had the white haired man been right? Was it all true what the bastard had said?

"Give her back!" He shouted, thrusting the blade into his friend chest. He lost his foothold and collapsed with a loud splash. He watched with horror as the other boy was being swallowed by the water.

The river roared. She saw the flood coming and screamed a warning, but the boys didn't seem to hear it. She reached her hand out to grab them, but only managed to knock herself out of balance. Shit, she thought as her foot slipped. And then she was under water.

"...Houjun. Help..." He heard his friend gasp for air.

"What have I done…?"

"Hikou!" He yelled, reaching his hand out. Hikou managed to grab it. He smiled.

And then the log hit him to the face.

---

It's not real! It's not REAL! Her mind screamed. It's just a dream. But the water felt very real as did the fact that she was running out of oxygen, fast.

She surfaced and gasped for air.

"Just.. A.. DREAM!" She yelled.

Sen was yanked out from the water. She found herself standing on dry land. She looked around, the river was there, and the trees were there. But where was he, and what had saved her? Something nudged her hand. She turned around, surprised.

"Horse?" She stared eyes wide at the beast. "What are you doing here?"

"Wait. Wait." She shook her head. "I don't want to know. Girls and horses, I get it." She chuckled. "I would have thought something more original…"

---

His face was burning as he lay there, staring at the sky. Everyone's dead, he thought, everyone but me. He reached out to probe his face. His eye was gone, he knew it. He didn't care.

"Kouran… Hikou…" He whispered.

"It's my fault."

"Why..?"

"Why was I spared…?"

And then he cried. Darkness took over. He was dying.

---

She finally found him. Or more likely the horse did, but it didn't matter. He lay on the grass with his arm over his face. Sen dismounted the horse and carefully made her way down the riverbank.

"Chichiri?" She whispered. He didn't move. "Oi. Chichiri." She kneeled next to him.

"Doushite?" He whispered.

"Eh? What?"

"Why?" He cleared his throat.

"I dunno. Luck?"

"Luck?" He lifted his arm to reveal the maimed face. Sen gasped as she saw the empty eye socket. "You call this luck?"

"You're alive, aren't you?"

"I should be dead."

"Come on Chichiri, don't be like that…"

"My name is Houjun."

Sen stared at the boy. And then realized her mistake. She was looking at Chichiri's dream-image. The boy that had been hurt so severely that he still controlled the man living today. She sighed and patted his shoulder in comforting way.

"Yeah, I know."

And then the dream changed.

---

"...Nuriko…"

"...Chiriko…"

"...Mitsukake..."

"...Hotohori…"

The names echoed in the darkness. Sen spun around, trying to find the source of the sad voice.

"Hello?"

"...Everyone's dead…"

"Who's there?" She narrowed her eyes to see into the shadows.

"...It's my fault…"

"Where are you?"

"Sarah…Elisabeth…"

"Eh?" She spun around just in time to see a red bird emerge from a sea of flames. She screamed and blindly ran to the shadows. Her hands shot up in front of her. She might have been scared, but wasn't going to run face first to a wall.

"Suzaku." A voice whispered close to her. Sen tried to see through the darkness but no avail. She roamed around until she stumbled into someone. With a surprised yelp she fell on her bum.

"Owwww…"

The darkness faded and Sen found herself sitting on a floor of what seemed to be a shrine of some sort. There was a huge golden bird statue in the middle of the room, incense was burning on a small altar nest to the statue.

"Suzaku." Said the voice again. Sen turned to see Chichiri sitting few feet away, staring at the statue. "Why? Why am I still here?" He questioned in silent voice. "Haven't I lost enough friends and loved ones? Haven't I given you enough tears for lifetime?" He sighed. "Haven't I suffered enough?"

"Chichiri.." Sen could feel her eyes tear up. "Oh Chichiri, what are you saying? There are people who still love you here. There are people who care." She cried. He turned to look at her, shock and sorrow were playing in his face. "I love you, you idiot!" She stood up and ran to him, but before she could reach him the dream vanished and there was nothingness again.

---

"Why?" Echoed the voice.

"I don't know. "Sen answered.

"You were the chosen. The One. You had the power to stop them, but you didn't." The voice sighed in defeat. "Instead, you came here."

"Who are you?"

"You can't heal him Sarah." The voice said. A light flickered in the darkness.

"I can try."

"He won't let you. His pain is too deep, his sorrow is too great."

"Still, I can try."

"He has lived with the pain for so long, he will die if it's taken away."

"Who are you?"

"I am Suzaku."

"Suzaku."

"Yes. It is time to wake up. Wake up Sarah.."

"Sen!"

She woke up with a start. Her hands flew to the sides of her head and she cried out loud. Her eyes wandered the room, stopping for a while to the shocked bandit standing next to the bed and then to the monk sitting on the floor. When their eyes met she knew he had heard her in the dream.

"I…" She tried to speak. "I saw.." Red light filled the room. There was a shrill shriek and Sen could feel herself being lifted to the air. "What the..!" Behind the red mist she saw Chichiri reaching out for her. It looked like he was yelling something. The red light swallowed her.

Silence.

---

TBC

---

AN: A cliffie, oh boy, it's a jolly good thing I don't do much of those...:P

Oh yeah, 2 updates in 24 hours! Can you handle it? Can you? Huuuuuh? Heheh, sorry, next chapter is called '14. Wo Ai Ni'.


	14. Chapter 14

If you recognize it, I don't own it.

14. Wo Ai Ni

Sen jumped out of her bed and ended up on the floor of her apartment. She fell on her knees and her hands hit the opposite wall so hard it made her eye water. For a while she just laid there, too stunned to move.

"Wh-wha-what…?" She could hear loud music coming from her neighbour's apartment. Her schoolwork lay on the table near. Her bag was there. She sat down to the floor and leaned to the bed. "A dream?"

She breathed deep and buried her face to her hands. When she opened her eyes and looked at her hands she gasped, the scars. The scars were there! It wasn't a dream! She reached out for the book laying on her bed.

On the last page there was only one phrase.

She traced a finger over the kanji's.

"Wo Ai Ni." She whispered the words. And then she cried.

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Loud banging woke the boy sleeping on the couch in the messy living room. He remote clattered on the ground as he got up and stretched. The banging grew more frantic.

"Yeah yeah, hold your bloody horses." He cursed as he made his way to the door.

"Sarah?" He questioned as he opened the door and found the brunette standing there on her pajamas, crying. She was barefoot and holding an old looking book to her chest.

"Peter-chan.." She whispered.

"What the hell Sarah, its bloody 2 am!"

"Oh Preter-chan, taskede kudasai..."

"Eh?" He pulled the shivering girl inside. "Sarah, I can't understand a word you're saying."

"Nani?" She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Demo.."

"Are you speaking Japanese?" His eyes went wide. "When the hell did you learn Japanese?"

"I... D-don't... Know..." She managed to stutter.

"Are you drunk?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure." She thrust the book at him. "But I think it's all in here."

Peter took the book and opened it. It was written in Chinese. "I swear if this is some kind of joke..."

"No joke."

"Fine." He sighed. "It's going to take me the whole night to translate this..."

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Sen felt someone tugging her sleeve.

"Mmmhp... I don wanna get up ye-et..." She muttered.

"You'd better." Peter said. He was sitting next to her on the couch holding a coffee cup in one hand and the book in other. She yawned and sat up.

"Peter." Sen smiled and too the offered cup.

"I got it done.." He looked tired as hell. "It's pretty amazing book."

"I know."

"Did it really happen?"

"I think so."

"What are you going to do?"

"Return it."

"To where?"

"Tokyo. It has a library tack on the back."

"You need money?"

"Yeah."

---

6 months later….

Sarah Nolan walked down the stairs to reclaim her luggage in the Narita Airport. Her 11 hour flight had given her time to sleep, but she still felt tired. She had felt tired for half a year now. She had a melancholy cloud around her as she walked to the NEX.

It was a pretty morning. Sun was shining, smog wasn't up yet. Sen enjoyed the cool air-conditioned ride to her city centre. It took the train about an hour to reach her station. The busy streets were filled with people even though it was just 7 am.

She left her luggage to her hotel and took the book with her.

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The library was a huge place. Sen stood near the front door and tried to take it all in. Her university library was about the same sized building, but it had far less books in it. She shook her head and spotted some vending machines near the stairs.

"Caffeine.." She sighed happily while digging out her wallet.

There was a girl standing next to the vending machine. She was fuming and banging the plastic cover.

"Gimme my drink you goddam.. I put my money in you… Dammit!" She kicked the machine.

"Ummm.." Sen tapped her shoulder. The girl eeped and turned rapidly around, knocking Sen out of balance. She yelped and grabbed the girls shoulder and they both soon found them selves on the floor.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry." The girl cried as she sat up.

"It's ok. It was my fault." Sen smiled as she stood up. She held out a helping hand for the girl.

"I'm such a clutch sometimes." The girl blabbered on. "I always get in to these situations, why, Taka always makes fun at me when I do, but he doesn't really mean it." She smiled and took the offered hand.

"O-K." Sen quirked an eyebrow.

"Are you here just for a holiday?" The girl asked innocently. "Your Japanese is quite good..."

"I'm returning a book actually." Sen answered and stuffed money into the vending machine and got her coffee. "I should be going now." She smiled and waved her hand goodbye, leaving the girl standing there.

"Oh. Okay. "

"Hey Miaka! what's taking you so long?" Someone yelled right before Sen turned to talk with the librarian sitting behind the counter.

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It was her last day in Tokyo. Sen was writing a card for Peter in a quiet café near her hotel.

'I prob get home before you get this.

It's been a wonderful vacation, I've been everywhere,

I've managed to spend all my money and all your money too.

I love this city.'

She thought for a moment.

'I returned the book.

It's over…'

Sen put the pen away and gazed at the busy street. She sighed. Had it all been a dream after all? She leaned her elbows to the counter and sipped her coffee when someone bumped into her and made her spill the hot liquid to the counter. She just managed to save the card.

"Hey! Watch it asshole!" Was her quick remark. She turned to look at the idiot that had crashed into her when her gaze met a magenta stare form the doorway. Her breath got up as she tried to gather her wits. "Chi…Chichiri." She whispered.

The man smiled at her as he waved his hand in apology. He turned and exited the café before she could do anything.

"No, no wait!" She yelled after him as she struggled to get her purse. "Wait!"

When she finally got to the street he was nowhere to be seen. The crowd was walking around her as she stood there, paralyzed. Was it just a hallucination? He couldn't possibly be here. But he had looked so much like Chichiri it was insane. She could feel her eyes tear up. Why? After all this time? He was there, and then he was gone. It's not fair.

"It's not fair." She whispered letting her tears fall.

"Excuse me miss?" Asked a familiar voice. "Are you alright?"

Her eyes went wide.

She turned her head slowly.

He was there.

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The End.

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AN: For now. The story shall be continued in 'Broken Dreams' when I have the time :D

Translations: (again, spelling can be really off.)

Taskede kudasai Help me

Nani? What?

Demo But


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